Sonic Adventure: the Novelization
by mattTheWriter072
Summary: Dr. Eggman has released a mysterious entity called "Chaos", who he wants to control so that he can build Robotnikland. Unfortunately for Sonic and his friends, Chaos grows stronger with every Chaos Emerald he eats, and the odds are not in Sonic's favor. Can our favorite blue hedgehog and his friends save the city of Station Square? Based on the 1998 video game.
1. Chapter 1

Sonic Adventure

Disclaimer: Even though this is my original writing, I do not own anything from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise or any characters associated with the franchise. All rights belong to Sega. This is not my intellectual property, and no financial gain is made from this nor will be sought. This is purely for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 1

Nearly a full year after the partial merging of Sonic's world with Earth, things seemed to be back to normal. The city of Station Square hired construction crews to build a long railway stretching from the S.S. Central Station to the ancient Mystic Ruins, which became a very popular worldwide tourist attraction. Angel Island was floating not too far from Mystic Ruins, where Knuckles guarded the Master Emerald around the clock.

Mystic Ruins was treated with great care to preserve the ancient artifacts from a civilization that existed thousands of years ago. The area consisted of mountains, forests, and marshes, and in the middle of one of the forests stood a massive temple. While it was overrun with moss and ivy, it stood as tall and majestic as it did in its prime days. Since people were only allowed to look at the temple from afar, the structure was undisturbed for centuries. This was about to change, however, when an excavation team of orange, round-bodied robots headed inside the temple. The person behind all of this was none other than the evil Dr. Eggman, who wanted to uncover the hidden secrets of this mysterious temple.

One of the robots stood outside the temple to relay the team's progress to Eggman.

"Sir, the team has been dispatched and are now heading inside the temple," it said to its master.

"Good, that's what I want them to do," Eggman replied with gratitude. "The archives that I found contained details about a mysterious ancient power. I am not leaving until my team is finished. According to these archives, it seems that there was a life form who went by only one name: Chaos. Supposedly, this power exists to this very day. At all costs, I must get my hands on that power. Then I can finally start building the Eggman Empire!" Eggman laughed maniacally, and it could be heard for miles around in the otherwise quiet Mystic Ruins, which was closed for the day for unknown reasons.

Eggman and his team weren't the only ones in Mystic Ruins. Tails was in his two-story workshop, happily tinkering with his plane using a wrench. A knock at the door startled Tails. Tails hurriedly put his tools away while a girl's voice spoke, muffled by the door. "Tails, I know you're in there!"

The fox ran to the door and opened it. Standing in the door was Amy, and she didn't look too happy. Her eyes looked slightly mean and she was impatiently tapping her toes.

"Where is Sonic?" she demanded before Tails had a chance to say hello.

"I think he went on a trip somewhere," Tails replied.

"What?! He went without me?" Amy cried. "Why does Sonic always have to leave me behind? He could at least write to me or call me, but nope, he doesn't wanna do that! It's ruining our relationship! How can we expect to build our relationship when he won't even keep in touch with me?" With her arms folded, she sternly said, "If you see him, tell him that Amy Rose is looking for him." With that, she closed the door, leaving Tails to contemplate what she had just said.

Meanwhile, the excavation continued at a relatively slow pace. The sun was beginning to set, causing the sky to glow a bright orange. Eggman was growing frustrated and wanted his team to pick up the pace. He angrily called his robot assistant over for another update, who ran to Eggman like there was no tomorrow. With a slightly frightened tone, it said, "The team has found something that I think you should look at. Follow me."

The robot led Eggman up a long flight of stone steps towards the entrance of the mysterious temple. Once inside, they walked down a flight of steps in near pitch-blackness. The interior of the temple seemed to be much larger than it looked like from the outside, illuminated by the robot's headlamp. Eggman began to brim with excitement at what was to come. He was led down a long corridor, and went down another flight of stone steps, with water cascading down the sides of the stairs. Journeying down another stone corridor and into a large chamber, the atmosphere became still and quiet, and it felt like there was an unseen presence flowing within the chamber. The floor glistened with a very thin layer of water. Several torches framed the walkway, and they lit up, one after the other, guiding Eggman down the path. Once Eggman reached the stone wall at the end, the torches suddenly faded out, leaving Eggman and his robot guide in complete blackness.

Eggman whipped out a flashlight and shone it at the wall, and what he saw caused the evil scientist to cry in happiness. A mural covered the wall, and it depicted what looked like a large sea monster. He then found the rest of his excavation team standing beside the mural.

"Doctor, look at this," one of the robots said, pointing to something written in a strange language. "I have been translating this script and it says, 'Chaos is power enriched by the heart'".

"Perfect!" Dr. Eggman cried. "This is what I've been searching for. Once I awaken this power, the world will be succumbed to terror, the likes of which haven't been seen for more than 4000 years!"

Nearby, Angel Island was floating in the sky. The centerpiece of the island was a sacred stone shrine that was as old as the temple in Mystic Ruins, and the shrine had a really deep history behind it. The stone steps gracing the front of the shrine led upwards to a large altar, where a large and magnificent glowing jewel, the Master Emerald, floated slightly above. The boundless energy of this emerald was what kept the island afloat. The Master Emerald lit up the night sky like a giant green lantern. In front of the Master Emerald, Knuckles was relaxing, staring up at the starlit sky. In a few minutes, he grew tired, yawned, and drifted off into sleep.

Unbeknownst to Knuckles, who was sound asleep, dark thunderclouds began rolling in. Bright flashes of lightning and booms of thunder disturbed the calm atmosphere. There was one particular flash of lightning that was blindingly bright, and the clap of thunder that followed was accompanied by the noise of what sounded like shattering glass.

In an instant, Knuckles woke up, his heart racing. A dozen lighted green specks flew through the sky in all directions. He could tell that something wasn't quite right as he walked up the stairs towards the Master Emerald. A strange creature, about 5 feet tall, stood in front of Knuckles. It had a slightly humanoid appearance, consisted mainly of water, and its emotionless green eyes stared straight at Knuckles. To the echidna's horror, the Master Emerald was shattered. A small, sparkling red orb of light floated above the creature before it looped around and quickly vanished.

"Who are you?" Knuckles angrily yelled at the liquid life form. "What happened to the Master Emerald? Are you the one who destroyed it?!" Knuckles, the vey last echidna descended from an ancient clan, was not about to let his island get in trouble. "I never go down without a fight!" The angry warrior raised his fists and tried to punch the creature. To Knuckles' horror, his fist didn't even make a single impression on the watery surface of his new enemy. The creature had a trick up his sleeve: he kicked Knuckles backwards down the base of the steps, where the echidna landed flat on his back. Standing up with an aching back, Knuckles was about to throw another punch at the creature. His fist flew through the air, but the creature was already melting away into a puddle of water.

"Coward! Come back and fight!" Knuckles growled. The puddle of water began to move, and it seeped through a small crack in one of the stone steps. "I'll get you someday. Someday." The infuriated echidna stomped away from the shrine and collected his breath. "Okay, Knuckles, there is only one way you can restore the Master Emerald. You have to go out and find the pieces."

As soon as he finished those words, he felt a strong rumble coming from the ground. Angel Island, no longer held up by the power of the Master Emerald, was plummeting into the sea!

With a thunderous crash, the entire island slammed into the water, sending up an enormous wall of water that radiated in all directions. The tremors were felt in a nearby forest, where a large purple cat named Big was sleeping soundly on a wooden bed underneath a small hut.

The vibrations woke up a little green frog that was sleeping on Big's furry white belly, and it hopped away into the bushes. Suddenly, the bush began to stir. A small puddle of water was trickling out of the bush, and it moved towards the frog. Curious, the frog hopped closer to the puddle, which leaped upwards and went straight into the poor frog's mouth!

Big began to stir, and he spotted his pet frog in the bush, who was shaking as the mysterious liquid life form overtook its small body. His body grew slightly longer, and the cat noticed that there was something new about his beloved pet.

"Hey, Froggy, am I seeing things?" Big wondered, still slightly drowsy, "You have grown a tail!"

Froggy turned around, and Big looked into a pair of new, sinister-looking eyes. With his newfound power, Froggy leaped six feet into the air and crashed into the poor feline, causing Big to fall flat on his back.

The frog landed on a rock, shot out its sticky tongue, and swallowed a yellow chaos emerald. "Hey, not my lucky charm! You ate my lucky charm!" Big hollered, and his beloved pet hopped away into a thick clump of bushes, leaving the poor cat to chase after him.

In the bustling metropolis of Station Square, the streetlights automatically illuminated, lighting up the chaotic streets that were jam-packed with traffic. A little girl was walking down the sidewalk with her mother. She looked up at one of the lights and noticed a cluster of moths surrounding it, dancing in its warm yellow glow. With an excited tone, she said, "Look, Mommy!"

"Yes, I know, my girl," the mother said. "The moths are out there because it's dark. It's getting late, and a storm is coming."

Their heads were turned when a blue streak zoomed by. The mother took the girl's hand and continued walking. The streak came from none other than the world-famous Sonic the Hedgehog, and he was running and hopping from building to building with great speed and agility. He stopped on the roof of one tall building, and overlooked the city that he hadn't seen in almost a full year.

"Aw, yeah!" Sonic whooped in excitement. "It's great to be back here!"

His homecoming was disrupted by a loud crash in another area of the city. A helicopter with its searchlight illuminating the road began to fly towards the source of the sound. Behind the helicopter trailed a mysterious red light. A dozen police cars raced down the road, swerving at each turn.

"First day back and we already have action? Awesome!" Sonic said with excitement as he jumped off the building and sprinted towards the scene of the crime.

He arrived at the City Hall, where a crowd was gathering. Roadblocks were set up to keep the people at bay while the SWAT team dealt with a mysterious, liquid life form, Chaos 0, who was standing on top of the City Hall's entrance. Why did he choose to go to Station Square?

A light rain began to fall. The leader of the team held out a megaphone. "You are completely surrounded! Come down from there at once!"

Chaos 0 jumped down and landed, facing the SWAT team without moving an inch. The crowd stepped back, fearing what was going to happen next.

"Don't shoot until I say so!" the leader instructed his team. Turning back to Chaos 0, he shouted, "Surrender yourself now!"

Chaos 0 began to advance towards the police. "Stop!" the leader yelled, "or we will fire!"

Fearing for his own life, he pulled the trigger on his rifle. With an earsplitting bang that stunned the entire crowd, he shot Chaos 0 at point-blank range. With a look of horror on the officer's face, he noticed that the creature hadn't been harmed a bit, and the bullet was clearly visible, suspended in the middle of his watery body. Chaos 0's brain began to pulsate, and out of sheer anger, he ripped up a telephone pole, causing a massive electric arc to buzz from the shredded wire, and brought it down onto a police car. Panic was induced among the crowd, and everyone scampered away to get as far from the creature as possible.

The officers formed a line in front of Chaos 0. With their guns loaded, the leader yelled, "FIRE!"

Every officer fired their guns, but it was all in vain. The bullets harmlessly struck the creature, and a pile of bullet caps accumulated at his feet.

"Our weapons are useless! Retreat! All personnel, fall back!" The police force ran to their cars and drove away. Chaos was a split-second away from destroying a parked car when Sonic intervened, jumping in his way.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Sonic grinned. "Finally, I get to be a part of some action!"

Chaos immediately started the fight by blasting a jet of water from his right hand, which Sonic narrowly avoided by jumping high into the air. The hedgehog then zoomed down straight towards Chaos' head, and he bounced off of it, launching himself up on top of the City Hall building. Chaos then jumped high into the air, hovering above the area. Sonic was sent running in all directions as the liquid life form shot down some more blasts of water. Chaos landed back onto the ground, and Sonic decided to run straight up the City Hall's exterior wall. Launching himself over the monster, Sonic curled up into a ball and started spinning really fast while falling down. The velocity of his attack was enough to completely destroy Chaos, whose whole body was reduced to thousands of droplets that hit the ground. Just as Sonic thought the battle was over, the droplets gravitated towards each other like a black hole, and became a small puddle on the ground. The puddle of water started to move, and before Sonic could do anything, it had already disappeared down a storm drain. Sonic stared at the drain, scratching his head. He was contemplating what he had thought was the strangest night in his entire life.

Unbeknownst to the SWAT team as well as Sonic, Dr. Eggman was perched atop an adjacent building for the entire duration of the event. He glared at his blue foe.

"Sonic, you fool," Eggman yelled, "You don't know what you're up against! It's Chaos, the God of Destruction! HAHAHAHAHA!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning, Knuckles arrived in Station Square. He was standing on the edge of a beach, watching the sunrise reflect across the rippling water.

"I really messed up," Knuckles said to himself. "I failed to guard the Master Emerald. I saw the Master Emerald shatter into a dozen pieces which scattered across the land. It's up to me to find the missing pieces. It won't be easy. They say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so I must fulfill my quest and restore Angel Island back to its original state."

Knuckles began his arduous task. He walked towards the City Hall, where the road was blocked off. Two police officers stood there.

"You are not allowed to enter, sorry," one officer told Knuckles. "Authorized personnel only."

"But there was a monster here," Knuckles growled. "Do you have any idea on his whereabouts? And have you seen any large green emerald pieces anywhere around here?"

"No, I haven't. Sorry," the officer replied.

"Thank you," Knuckles said and walked away.

The red light appeared above him again. This time, it spoke with a feminine voice. "This way!" Following the light, Knuckles jumped up towards the wall of a building. Using the sharp spikes on his fists, he clawed his way up the exterior of the building, making his way up to the top of a bell tower. The light sped off to his right, and he decided to follow it, sensing that it knew where a piece of the all-powerful gemstone was hiding.

Meanwhile, Tails was at his workshop, about to test something out. A pair of large doors in the back of the workshop slid open, and a brand new silver biplane slowly glided out onto a long runway. Tails was at the controls. "Time to test out this new prototype propulsion system! I hope all goes well. Tornado is ready for takeoff!" Tails said, pulling back a lever. The plane rocketed down the runway and soared up into the sky. It smoothly made a tight turn and headed towards Station Square.

"It's working! Just as I hoped!" Tails enthusiastically said. Suddenly, a wisp of black smoke came out of the plane's nose, and the whole plane began to vibrate.

"What's going on?! Mayday, mayday!" The young fox screamed as the plane began to spiral out of the sky, leaving a long trail of black smoke in its wake.

Over at the Emerald Coast Hotel, Sonic was taking a much-needed break, relaxing on a beach chair and basking in the sunlight. He yawned and stretched his arms. "Boy, that was one heck of a battle last night. Even the world's fastest hedgehog sometimes needs to take a break."

Sonic heard faint screams coming from above. He sleepily opened his eyes.

The people swimming in the pool noticed the screams too.

"Aaah! He's going to crash!" screamed a teenage girl.

Tails' plane flew lower and lower, spewing a trail of black smoke behind it. "That's Tails! Hang on, buddy, I'm coming!" Forgetting all about his break, Sonic sprang out of his chair and raced across the beach. He jumped onto a long wooden dock, and a massive killer whale began to chase Sonic, tearing the dock apart!

Sonic jumped up and grabbed Tails in his arms a split-second before the plane crashed, violently exploding into a fireball and sending metal debris flying everywhere. Tails, frightened and quivering in Sonic's arms, opened his eyes and saw his best friend's face.

"Sonic! Thank you so much for rescuing me!" he rejoiced.

"Don't worry, buddy, I'm always here to help!" Sonic grinned. Walking back to the Emerald Coast Hotel, Sonic asked Tails what went wrong.

"Well, I was just testing out a new propulsion system for my plane," Tails said. "It will be state-of-the-art, and when it's finished, it will fly circles around your old plane! Wanna see my new power supply?"

Tails whipped out a shiny, purple gem.

"Whoa! That's a chaos emerald!" Sonic said in surprise and amazement. "Where did you find that?"

"I found it while testing my new plane! I thought that I could harness the power of a chaos emerald to make my plane fly even better than before!"

"I knew you'd think of that!" Sonic smiled. "You have a bright mind, Tails."

He took Tails' hand and sped off into the city.

Meanwhile, Big was still searching for his beloved pet frog. He came across Twinkle Park, the city's amusement park. He rode the elevator up to the skywalk and entered the park. It was called Twinkle Park because a special holographic projector made the sky appear black with twinkling stars.

"Froggy!" Big called out. "Where are you?"

"Aauugh! There's a frog in the water!" a woman screamed.

That caught Big's attention. He walked over to a large pool, and sure enough, Froggy was calmly swimming around in the water.

"Froggy," Big said, "This is no time to be swimming. You're coming back home with me." He spotted a little kid eating a cherry-topped ice cream cone. Politely, he asked the kid if he could borrow his cherry.

"I don't really like cherries," the kid said and gladly handed it over to the large feline.

Big took out his long, wooden fishing rod and, using the cherry as bait, he hooked it onto the end of his line. He cast the line into the middle of the pool and waited.

Froggy, even with powerful chaos energy inside him, couldn't resist swimming over to the delicious treat. Kicking his little hind legs back, he bit the cherry, and Big quickly tried to reel him in. However, the will of the force inside Froggy's body endorsed him with super strength, and Big was struggling, despite the very obvious size difference.

"Wow, Froggy, you're strong! How did you become like this? You're as strong as I am!" Big said while he struggled against his pet.

Everyone nearby was gawking at the spectacle. This was the strangest game of tug-of-war that anyone had ever seen. The large cat was struggling against a frog who was the size of a toddler's shoe. Eventually, Big's strength got the best of him, as the poor frog was launched out of the water, thrown off of Big's fishing line, and landed right in the middle of a table where a group of teenagers sat together, eating dinner.

The teens had surprised looks on their faces. Rrribbit, Froggy croaked while covered in food.

"Come to me, Froggy!" Big waved him over. With abnormal strength, Froggy jumped right over Big's head and hopped away. He jumped over the park's entrance gate, exiting the park.

Big hung his head in sadness. "Froggy, what's wrong with you?" The mysterious red light was watching him the whole time. It swooped down in front of Big's eyes before disappearing.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails made it to Mystic Ruins. Tails was just about to lead Sonic to his workshop when they heard a strange humming sound. A large contraption with three thrusters and two missile launchers hovered just above Sonic and Tails. The Eggmobile, Eggman's personal hovercraft, was fused to the large armored add-on.

"Hey, look," Sonic said. "It's a giant talking egg!"

"Silence!" Eggman screamed. "I am Dr. Robotnik, the greatest evil scientist in the whole world! I trust that your trip went well, Sonic?"

"Yeah, it did," Sonic replied, as if Eggman was a good friend. "You must have missed me, right?"

"Get real, hedgehog!" Eggman scoffed. "Once my ultimate plan has been set into motion, it will be impossible to stop me!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Well, I've already defeated you countless times, so today is not going to be any different."

Eggman happened to look down at Tails, and he caught a glimpse of the chaos emerald in his hand.

"Come on, kid. You should know that such a powerful item like that should not be handled by children like you. Give it to me, Tails. I am way more mature than you are."

"As if, Doc!" Sonic dared to stick up for his best friend.

"Well, if you don't give it to me, then I'll have to grab it from you! Egg Hornet, go!"

Eggman revved up his vehicle and swooped down towards Sonic. He fired several missiles at once in hopes of finishing Sonic off once and for all, but the hedgehog was a little too quick for him.

"Come to think of it, Eggman, I miss the good old days where I always whipped your butt," Sonic grinned while running from the missiles.

"Well, you'll never get those days back. Game over, hedgehog," Eggman growled as an orange energy shield was deployed around the Egg Hornet. "All systems at full power!"

The Egg Hornet extended a pair of large drills out the front and nosedived straight into the ground, right where Sonic stood. He was certain that he hit his target.

"Yes! Sonic is finally done for!" Eggman cried in pure delight and victory.

Or so he thought. Sonic was hiding behind the Egg Hornet, then he jumped straight up at the Egg Hornet's body, causing it to explode in a ball of fire.

"How could you do this to me?!" Eggman screamed as the Eggmobile safely detached from the wrecked Egg Hornet's shell.

"All right, Sonic!" Tails cheered and gave Sonic a high-five.

While the duo had their backs turned, Eggman seized this as his only opportunity. He extended a large robotic arm out the front of the Eggmobile and rudely snatched the chaos emerald from Tails' hand.

"No! The emerald!" cried Tails.

"That was a cheap trick, Eggman!" Sonic scolded.

"Hahaha! You can come on out now, Chaos! I have a little snack here waiting for you!"

It was a name that Sonic and Tails have never heard before. A puddle slid towards Sonic, who remembered seeing something like it last night. The puddle shape-shifted, becoming Chaos 0. Sonic grew furious upon seeing this creature a second time, and he assumed a fighting stance.

It was too late for Sonic to do anything. Eggman threw the emerald to Chaos 0, and a blinding light enveloped the creature. Once the light cleared, Chaos had undergone a major transformation. Now called Chaos 1, he grew slightly taller, and his right arm, which now had skeletal bones inside, grew longer and slightly bulkier. The chaos emerald was clearly visible beneath his transparent, watery skin, embedded in his right hand.

"This can't be too good," Tails said worriedly.

"Yes!" Eggman whooped. "The legend was right! Every chaos emerald I feed to Chaos will make him grow stronger. Once he acquires all seven emeralds, we'll be unstoppable! Together, we'll destroy Station Square, and in its place, we'll build the empire of my dreams! Come on, Chaos! Let's look for another emerald, shall we?"

Another brilliant flash of light momentarily blinded Sonic and Tails. A few moments later, the light faded away and their vision slowly returned. By the time they could see clearly again, however, Eggman and Chaos 1 were gone.

"We have to get serious, Tails. Eggman has really raised the stakes this time. We must find the remaining six chaos emeralds before Eggman could get his grubby hands on them! Otherwise, that monster will continue to evolve. Come on, buddy," Sonic said as he took Tails' hand and set off to find the rest of the emeralds.

"Sonic," Tails told his best friend, "As I said before, I was testing out a new propulsion system for my plane, and it dawned on me to use a chaos emerald. Just before my plane began to spiral down earlier, I remembered seeing the emerald flashing really brightly as I approached Station Square. Maybe it was reacting to another emerald!"

"Well," Sonic said, "Then we have to find that other emerald!"

"I think I remember being close to Casinopolis when my plane started acting up," Tails said with determination. "Let's hop in and look for it!" The duo entered Tails' workshop, where the Tornado was waiting on a large, raised circular platform. Tails hopped into the pilot's seat, while Sonic stood firmly on the left wing of the plane. The young fox remotely opened a large garage door while the platform automatically lowered so it was even with the floor. The plane slowly glided out onto the runway, and then Tails pulled back the throttle. The Tornado ran down the runway and lifted off the tarmac, ascending higher and higher. Despite the strong winds pushing against Sonic, he was able to firmly keep his position on the wings.

The sun had almost gone down by the time they reached Station Square. The entire city was bathed in an orange radiance. Tails was frantically searching for a place to land the Tornado.

"Over there, Tails," Sonic directed, pointing towards the beach in front of the Emerald Coast Hotel.

Banking hard, they flew right over the hotel and skidded to a stop on the white, sandy beach. Once the dust cleared, they hopped out of the plane and started heading for the casino.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was looking for more pieces of the Master Emerald. Gliding over Station Square, he touched down on a street, thinking that he was out of luck. He had been searching for three hours and didn't find any trace of a piece. Suddenly, the red light appeared again. It led him towards a large building with bright, colorful lights all over the exterior, and big white letters mounted above the doors spelled "CASINOPOLIS". The red light danced around him and disappeared through the front doors of the casino.

Knuckles followed the light and stepped inside. The place was hopping. Slot machines, card tables, and spinning roulette wheels dominated the huge room. Tall pillars were neatly arranged in a circular pattern. A large, flowing fountain illuminated by multicolored spotlights stood on one side of the room. In the center of the room was a glass floor, and underneath it was a gigantic, spinning roulette wheel. In the center of the glass floor stood a statue of Sonic, made entirely from golden rings. Knuckles scowled at the statue before the red light appeared again. Following it, Knuckles squeezed through a thick crowd of gamblers who were enjoying their time at the casino, and walked down a flight of stairs in hopes of finding a piece of the Master Emerald.

Sonic and Tails arrived just outside of the casino, gawking at the colorful, illuminated facade of the building. The mysterious red light appeared in front of them. It sped right at Sonic, who covered his face to avoid getting hurt. However, the light didn't do any harm. It began to revolve around Sonic really quickly, and he noticed that his shoes were bathed in a glowing, golden light. Once the light faded out, Sonic noticed that the soles of his sneakers were replaced with thick white ones, and the sides of each heel had a pair of golden studs on them.

"Behold the Light Speed Shoes", the light spoke. "These will increase your overall speed as well as enabling you to perform a move called the Light Speed Dash." The light then streaked towards the casino and vanished.

"Very well then," Sonic said. "I have a hunch that there's a chaos emerald here somewhere."

Sonic and Tails strolled into the casino. A man shouted, "Everyone, look! It's Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Almost instantly, a mob of people ran towards Sonic, brimming with excitement.

"Can I get my picture taken with you?" A teenage couple asked.

"Can I have your autograph?" A small boy asked.

Sonic was overwhelmed by all the chaos. "Tails," he yelled, "See if you can locate that chaos emerald!"

"Got it!" Tails replied. He walked by a restroom door, and the sound of running water could be heard from behind it. The door opened up five seconds later, and a well-dressed man walked out. Tails walked up to him.

"Excuse me, Sir," Tails nervously addressed himself to the man, who turned towards him.

"Hello! I am Mr. Benson. I'm the owner of this casino. How may I help you?"

Tails looked at Sonic, who was still unable to break free. He was forced to finish the task by himself.

"I was wondering if you happened to find any chaos emeralds here."

"What's a chaos emerald?" Mr. Benson asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"It's a small, glowing gem. They hold incredible amounts of power. We need to find it quickly!"

Moments later, Sonic managed to break free of the crowd, gasping for air. He walked over to Tails and Mr. Benson.

"Well, hello, Mr. Sonic!" Mr. Benson shook Sonic's hand vigorously. "It's such an honor that a figure as famous as you could come to this casino. Are you looking for an emerald too?"

"Yes," Sonic replied. "That's why we're here."

"I believe I found something like that stored in the coin vault. Follow me."

Mr. Benson led the two friends down a wide, red-carpeted corridor. They stopped in front of a massive golden metal door with a large lock on it. After Mr. Benson inputted the numbers into the lock, a ding was heard, and the door slowly slid open, revealing a massive room filled with thousands of golden coins, all piled into a gigantic mound. Tails saw something glittering right at the top of the mound.

"Aha! That's it!" Tails cried with happiness. Using his twin tails like a helicopter, he flew into the room and grabbed the silver chaos emerald from the top of the golden hill.

"Sweet! One down and five to go," Sonic smiled. "Thank you so much, Mr. Benson."

"My sincere pleasure, Mr. Sonic," Mr. Benson shook Sonic's hand and warmly bade them farewell.

Walking out of the casino, Tails couldn't help but stare at the beautiful, gleaming silver gem in his hands. The light from the colored signs reflected off of the many facets of the chaos emerald.

Suddenly, a laser bolt struck the duo, throwing them to the ground. The emerald rolled out of Tails' hand.

"No!" Tails screamed. "The chaos emerald!"

They looked up and they saw Eggman hovering above them.

"Don't even think about it. It's too late. Sweet dreams, you two!" Eggman's hovercraft spewed a cloud of purple gas right at Sonic and Tails, who immediately began to feel lightheaded and weakened. Sonic tried to reach for the chaos emerald, but he didn't have the strength or speed to do so. They both collapsed in a heavy slumber, leaving Eggman to grab the emerald for himself. Laughing manically, he flew back up into the starry night sky, leaving his two enemies asleep on the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Knuckles was beginning to feel the presence of an emerald as he walked down a narrow corridor. The red light appeared in front of him and shot straight up through a ventilation pipe. Determined to reach the emerald, he noticed a large spinning fan on the floor. Using his long dreadlocks to capture the air, he floated up into the duct like a piece of paper. The light disappeared through a ventilation grille and into a darkened room.

With ease, Knuckles punched the grille out of the way and he knew that the emerald was in this room. However, a horrible smell wafting into his nose was conflicting with his desire. He was in the casino's garbage storage area.

Knuckles was forced to pick his way through a mountain of garbage. The smell was overwhelming, but he never gave up. Eventually, he found a green, glowing piece of the Master Emerald, and put it away in a brown sack. Relieved, he walked back the way he came from. He was about to climb the stairs back up to the casino when the red light appeared again. This time, it went straight at Knuckles' face, and he was lost in the middle of a dazzling white light.

Once the light cleared, he was awestruck by what he saw. He was standing in a native village, and several square-shaped buildings, grassy ledges, and trees dotted the landscape. Straight ahead of him stood a massive stone temple.

"I've never seen this place before," Knuckles said with awe, "but it also seems very familiar. What the heck is going on?"

Knuckles began to explore the village, gawking at the brand-new-looking buildings. It was only when he heard voices that he noticed an incredible sight: several large red echidnas with white markings were walking around.

"Echidnas?" Knuckles said in disbelief. "I thought I was the last one. Wait a second," he said while gazing at the familiar-looking temple, "This place looks just like Mystic Ruins, but the buildings should be ancient. Why do they look brand new? Maybe I was transported to the Mystic Ruins of the past!"

Walking further down the stone path, he continued to explore the village. A look of comfort and peace appeared on his face.

"This is pretty freaky," he admitted, "But at the same time I feel... at home here. This is so wonderful."

Since Knuckles was a loner for most of his life, he had longed to be with others of his own kind, and to find some sort of connection with his ancestors. He then paused, seeing two echidnas conversing near the base of the temple. One was a young light-brown girl named Tikal, and the other was an elderly dark-red male named Pachacamac. Knuckles leaned in closer to hear their conversation.

"Please, Father. We must stop the invasion!" cried Tikal.

"Tikal, we need the seven emeralds in order to ensure our survival," Pachacamac told his daughter. "When we acquire all the emeralds, we will be more powerful than any other tribe!"

"But Father," Tikal argued, "There must be something we can do other than warring with other countries. We cannot fulfill our own desires by bringing harm to others. It's wrong!"

Before Knuckles could hear another word of the conversation, the bright light appeared and he was standing outside of Casinopolis.

"Was I dreaming?" Knuckles said to himself. "For the first time in my life, I actually felt peaceful, like I belonged there."

His tranquil thoughts were then interrupted by faint snoring to his left. Sonic and Tails were lying right in the middle of the road, fast asleep.

"What the heck are they doing here?" Knuckles wondered. "I can't attend to them now. They should be fine. I have a quest I need to fulfill before I can do anything else."

He dusted himself off and was about to start looking for more pieces of the Master Emerald when a flash of movement caught his eyes.

Dr. Eggman was running towards a hotel. Furious, Knuckles began to chase him. The evil scientist ran inside the hotel and waved to Knuckles from inside an elevator just before its doors closed.

Knuckles stopped in front of the elevator. He pressed the button to go up, and the elevator stopped at the top floor before returning to the lobby. As soon as the doors opened, Knuckles dashed into the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor. While the car was ascending, Knuckles leaned against the wall, mentally preparing for what was to come.

A chime was heard once the car reached the top floor. The doors slid open to reveal a massive, circular room with a ballroom dance floor in the middle. Eggman stood right in the center of the dance floor with an evil grin on his face.

"Come on, Eggman, explain yourself now!" Knuckles demanded with his fist held up. "I have more important things to do than waste my time with you!"

"Sorry, but I wanted someone to be my guinea pig because I want to test something. You will do very nicely, my little red friend," Eggman said as his grin grew wider and wider.

Knuckles tensed up even more upon hearing those words. He knew what the doctor was capable of. With a snap of Eggman's fingers, the sprinklers in the ceiling activated, causing a large puddle of water to form on the marble dance floor. Knuckles kept his furious gaze locked on Eggman, failing to notice that the puddle was moving around. The puddle slithered right in front of Knuckles, morphing into Chaos 1. The very sight of it caused Knuckles to boil with rage.

"It's you," Knuckles said angrily but in a calm tone. "You were the one that shattered the Master Emerald. At least now you spared me the trouble of hunting you down!"

"Now let's get started, shall we? I've got a little snack for you!" Eggman threw the silver chaos emerald to his new pet, and a blinding light enveloped the trio. Once their vision was restored, Knuckles and Eggman beheld the sight of Chaos 2. His head and torso were greatly enlarged, giving him a more muscular form. His head had two horizontal projections coming out the sides, like a hammerhead shark. The creature now had skeletal bones in his left arm as well as his right. Testing his new arms, Chaos 2 swung them around and let out a loud, shrill battle cry.

"Changing shape won't scare me! I'll still whip his butt, so bring it on!" Knuckles said with determination.

"Oh, we'll see about that!" Eggman snickered. "My newly improved Chaos should be more than a match for you, my man."

Chaos 2 started by firing twin water blasts from both his enlarged hands. Knuckles rolled out of the way of the blasts, which hit the marble floor, causing it to become riddled with small cracks.

Knuckles leaped up and tried to punch the creature, but Chaos 2 deployed a shield around himself, which knocked Knuckles backward onto the floor. While Knuckles was momentarily down, Chaos 2 extended his arm and slammed it down in front of Knuckles, causing a shock wave that cracked one of the giant marble pillars holding up the ceiling.

"Is that all you've got?" Knuckles boasted while getting back on his feet.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" Eggman grinned. "Show your stuff, Chaos!"

Chaos 2 jumped up, and the two emeralds flew out of his body. The liquid life form then morphed himself into a giant watery ball, which bounced its way towards Knuckles with deadly crushing force. With a swift punch, Knuckles sent Chaos 2 flying across the room, and the ball smacked into another marble pillar, which shattered on impact. A small piece of the ceiling broke apart and rained down on the floor with a series of loud crunching noises. The sounds of the battle could be heard from all the way down in the lobby.

"What's going on?" a woman in a bright red dress asked.

"Well, I guess my business conference is cancelled!" cried a man in a black tuxedo.

Back on the top floor, Chaos 2 transformed back to his original form. The chaos emeralds were sucked back into his body. Fueled by newfound rage, Knuckles delivered a flying kick right in the middle of Chaos 2's chest. The monster screamed in pain, causing Knuckles and Eggman to stand still in surprise. He deployed his shield again, but Knuckles didn't back down. The warrior used all the strength he had to hold on to Chaos 2's body, brutally punching his shield over and over. Something had to give, and it was decided against Chaos 2. His shield began to crack.

"Watch out, Chaos!" Eggman screamed.

With one last punch, Knuckles caused the shield to shatter, leaving Chaos 2 completely vulnerable. With his foot, he kicked the monster right in the brain, destroying his whole body in a giant splash of water. The splash caused the marble floor to glisten with water and become extremely slippery.

"How dare you!" Eggman wailed with his fist shaking in front of Knuckles.

"I guess your monster isn't as powerful as you claim it to be," Knuckles grinned. "Now explain yourself, or you'll be the next one I defeat with my bare hands!"

Chaos pulled himself together into a small puddle, but he was too weak to morph back into his normal form. Instead he slid over to one of the many cracks in the floor and seeped through it.

"I don't have to, Knuckles," Eggman said while trying to hide his fear. "But I will tell you something else. Do not trust Sonic. I see that you have been collecting the shards of the Master Emerald. Well, Sonic's after them too, as well as the chaos emeralds. It's a sort of get-rich-quick scheme."

Knuckles stood frozen to the spot, completely speechless. He and Sonic have always been rivals and they had their differences, but he had always trusted Sonic, seeing him as being a really honest hedgehog. For some reason, Eggman's words seemed to cause Knuckles to question his own beliefs.

"You're lying, Eggman," Knuckles softly spoke, with his eyes closed.

"Look, Knuckles, it doesn't matter what you think. The truth will be revealed eventually," Eggman said just as his Eggmobile smashed through the wall. He climbed in, took the controls, and his hovercraft smashed through another wall before taking off into the night.

Knuckles was left to contemplate what Eggman had said. He didn't know what to believe. He went down the elevator and walked through the lobby. He was too lost in his own thoughts to notice that everyone in the lobby was cheering on him.

He stepped outside onto the street. Rummaging through his sack, he pulled out one of the pieces of the Master Emerald.

"Eggman is lying, right?" he asked the emerald shard. "Look, he's making me question my own beliefs. I cannot allow myself to be distracted by this. Like Eggman said, the truth will be revealed eventually, am I correct?"

Suddenly, his hands started to glow. "What is happening?" he wondered. The light faded to reveal a pair of metal gloves with blade-like shovels placed over his hands.

"These are the Shovel Claws," a female voice spoke. He looked up and he saw the red light above him.

"Tikal?" Knuckles wondered, recognizing the voice.

"These will help you on your journey. Good luck," the light spoke again before disappearing.

He remembered seeing Tikal in the vision he had. "I feel there is a lot more to this than I thought. I have to find more pieces of the Master Emerald. That might help me answer all of my questions about this."

With that, Knuckles made his way to the S.S. Central Station to take the train to Mystic Ruins.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning, Sonic and Tails awakened from their deep sleep. They were no longer in front of Casinopolis. Instead, they were lying on a bench near the Emerald Coast Hotel.

"What happened?" Sonic wondered. "And how did we get here?"

Tails looked around, rubbing his eyes. He gasped. "The emerald's gone! Eggman must have stolen it."

"Come on, we have to get moving. He's beating us 2 to 0 with the chaos emeralds!" Sonic said. "Let's go back to the Tornado!"

With that, Sonic and Tails ran back to the beach at the Emerald Coast Hotel, where the Tornado was still waiting. They hopped in, turned the plane around, and took off, flying into the clear blue sky.

Later, Knuckles was searching around Mystic Ruins for another piece of the Master Emerald, still thinking about his experience from the night before.

"Eggman was probably right about some of this. If I find that Sonic really is going after the shards of the Master Emerald," Knuckles said as he tensed up, "I will teach him a lesson that he shall remember for a very long time."

A buzzing sound was heard overhead, and his senses began to react. The Tornado was flying above Knuckles while it was heading to Tails' workshop. Sitting in Tails' lap was a blue chaos emerald that they recently acquired. Sonic stood on the wings as usual, and all seemed to be going perfect.

Without warning, strong winds began pushing against the plane, tilting it completely on its side. Sonic was clinging on the wings for dear life as the plane started to roll over.

"It's too windy here, Sonic!" Tails screamed.

With all of his strength, Tails tried to roll the plane back to an upright position, but to no avail. The Tornado rolled onto the other side instead and spiraled out of the sky.

"Not this again!" Tails cried. "And it's not even because of an emerald this time!"

The ground was quickly catching up to them. Tails managed to jerk his plane upright at the very last second, landing safely on the ground.

"Wow. I hope I won't have to go through that again," Tails panted, trying to catch his breath.

Their relief was short-lived, however. "Look out!" Tails shouted, pointing to his left.

A large tornado was slowly but steadily moving straight towards Sonic and Tails. The chaos emerald in Tails' hand seemed to be flashing faster and faster the closer the windstorm came to them.

"Are you kidding me?" Sonic said, "The emerald seems to be inside the tornado!"

Sonic was ready to take action, but Tails was worried about what might happen to him inside the tornado.

"Tails," Sonic reassured his best friend, "maybe if I could run around the tornado in the opposite direction it's spinning, I could probably generate enough wind of my own to cancel it out!"

"Are you sure you can do it, Sonic? That tornado is pretty big!" Tails worried.

"There's only one way to find out, buddy. Let's put this Light Speed Dash to the test!"

Tails handed the emerald to Sonic. While the hedgehog was crouching down, the golden studs in his shoes began to glow, and several blue orbs of energy drew themselves into the studs.

"Ready!" Sonic cried.

Sonic bolted towards the tornado at the speed of sound, leaving behind a trail of blue light. Tails was taken aback by Sonic's speed. In no time at all, Sonic reached the mighty tornado.

"Alright, emerald, it's your turn," Sonic said. As if it was responding to him, the emerald glowed blue, and Sonic was now surrounded by a veil of blue light. He rolled into a spin dash, going even faster. Sonic whirled around the tornado in the opposite direction, and the trails of blue light wrapped around the twister like thread as Sonic continued to speed around it. With such force coming from the opposite direction, the tornado began to weaken.

"Keep going, Sonic! It's starting to work!" Tails cheered.

Meanwhile, Knuckles wasn't too far away from the natural disturbance. Following Sonic and Tails' trail, the echidna's senses began to act up again. He stopped where his senses detected an emerald, but he couldn't see any sign of one.

"Is it... underground?" Knuckles wondered.

He thought about what Tikal had last said to him. "The Shovel Claws!" Knuckles remembered. He dug them out of his sack and slipped them onto his hands.

"All right, let's see what these babies can do," Knuckles grinned as he scooped a pile of dirt with ease. He used his other hand and scooped up another pile of dirt. "These seem to be working great. I love these!" Knuckles smiled at how effective his new Shovel Claws were.

He continued scooping up more and more dirt, burrowing himself into the ground. In no time at all, he felt the claws hitting something that was rather hard. Seeing a hint of green light, he scooped up another piece of the Master Emerald. Grinning, he put both the emerald shard and the Shovel Claws into his sack. With the sensation gone, he decided it was time to have a showdown with Sonic.

Sonic was still spinning vigorously around the tornado's unsteady winds. Eventually, the tornado dispersed, and a bright green chaos emerald fell from the sky, landing in Sonic's hand.

"You did it, Sonic! I couldn't have expected anything different from you!" Tails praised his friend.

"I know," Sonic gloated, "I'm the best, aren't I?"

Knuckles watched Sonic and Tails in their moment of glory. He walked right up to them with a stern look on his face and his fists clenched tightly.

"Eggman was right. He really does want the emeralds for himself," Knuckles growled.

Sonic heard Knuckles coming towards them. "Hey, Knuckles," he smiled, "how's it going?"

Knuckles did not return Sonic's friendly greeting. "Give me that emerald. Right now! I will not ask twice! Just give it to me and we can go about this in peace."

"First," Sonic asserted, "you didn't ask me for it. You demanded it. And second, it's not going to happen!"

"How dare you defy me!" Knuckles' rage boiled from inside his very core. Knuckles swung a fist at Sonic, who easily dodged his attack.

"What's gotten into you lately, Knux?" Sonic asked.

"I just want that emerald!" Knuckles growled as he tried to punch Sonic, who quickly rolled away.

Sonic took the offensive position, jumped up, and zoomed straight down at Knuckles, who managed to deflect the hedgehog with his fists.

Knuckles slammed his fists down at the ground, causing a powerful shock wave that knocked Sonic slightly off balance. Seeing this as an opportunity, Knuckles ran at Sonic and tried to punch him again, but Sonic jumped backwards and landed some distance away.

Sonic then ran straight at Knuckles and tried to tackle him like a football player, but the echidna was prepared for the attack, and he just slid backwards, still standing on his feet. Tails was forced to watch his two best friends fighting each other from the sidelines.

"Cool it, you two!" Tails pleaded. "You're supposed to be friends!"

The little fox's cries weren't heard by either of his friends, who were too focused on one another to hear anything. Sonic charged up his Light Speed Dash, but Knuckles knocked him out of the way before it was fully charged, canceling Sonic's attempted maneuver.

Both Sonic and Knuckles have had enough. For one final confrontation, the two rivals charged straight at each other, colliding with great force. The two chaos emeralds flew out of Sonic's hands and rolled across the grass before they fell into the lake.

"No! The chaos emeralds!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all shouted at the same time.

It was too late to do anything. The water began to glow with a bright light, and Chaos 2 rose out of the lake, clutching both emeralds in his hands. Another powerful evolution occurred, and Chaos emerged from the light as a shark-like creature with razor-like fins. It had a protrusion in its back that resembled a dorsal fin, and his legs were replaced by a shark-like tail. He still had the skeletal bones in his arms, but now he had a skeletal backbone that extended into the tail. The menacing Chaos 4 towered over the three heroes, who were completely dumbfounded.

Eggman appeared and flew in front of Chaos 4 before turning to the heroes. "Hahaha! Your hard work has been in my favor the entire time, you three! You practically gave me your emeralds! Er, you gave Chaos your emeralds, I mean. That means we will have even more power. Just wait until he gets all seven of them! My dreams will come true! Behold Chaos 4!"

"We will not let that happen! You know I'll whip his butt any time of the day, so stop trying. You know I'll always win, Doc," Sonic countered. "Knuckles, did you let him trick you again?"

"Sonic, just shut that big mouth of yours," Knuckles told him before turning his furious gaze towards Eggman. "Remember what happened last time? As soon as I finish off that watery monster, you're next on my list!"

"Oh, we'll see about that," Eggman snickered while Chaos 4 smoothly did a backflip in the water. He began swimming around a little bit and he popped his head back out, gazing at the three heroes.

"I think he's inviting us in for a little showdown! Bring it on, you big drip!" Sonic grinned and prepared to charge at Chaos 4.

Knuckles, being a natural warrior, was prepared for battle.

"Stay back, Tails," Sonic warned. "Knuckles and I will handle this."

"Um, are you sure about that? Sonic, in case you didn't notice, he's in the water," Knuckles teased. "You know that's your greatest weakness."

"Don't worry about me," Sonic said with very slight confidence. "I'll do whatever it takes to beat Eggman and Chaos. Now, let's not keep him waiting any longer."

Sonic and Knuckles dashed straight towards the lake. Chaos 4 swung his arm around, producing a wave of plasma that knocked the duo backwards onto the shore.

"You'll pay for that," Knuckles snarled.

Once Sonic and Knuckles got back on their feet, Chaos 4 shot a jet of water straight at Sonic, who jumped up and avoided the blast. Sailing through the air, he landed on Chaos 4's head and wrapped his arms around him as tightly as he could.

Chaos 4 tried to shake Sonic off his head, but the clingy hedgehog held on tight, flopping around like a rag doll. Knuckles got up just in time to see the monster submerge itself under the water, taking Sonic with him.

"No, Sonic!" cried Tails.

"That's it. I'm going in with him!" Knuckles said and dove into the lake.

Underneath, Chaos 4 was still trying to dislodge Sonic, who held his breath. Knuckles swam as fast as he could to come to Sonic's aid. Seeing this, Chaos grew furious and his eyes glowed a brilliant green. He began rapidly spinning around, creating a whirlpool of water around himself. Finally, Sonic was forced off of him, but Knuckles was struggling against the strong current. Still spinning, Chaos 4 rose up out of the water, creating a massive watery tornado that sucked in everything from the lake. With every passing second, the tornado grew taller and wider. Sonic and Knuckles could be seen spinning around inside, with Chaos 4 in the center of the twister.

"Oh my," Eggman said, taken aback. "Such power... it's amazing! Good work, Chaos!"

"Hey, my friends will never lose a fight with Chaos!" screamed Tails.

The twister then dispersed, and Sonic and Knuckles were thrown out into the air, surrounded by millions of tiny water droplets. They managed to steer their landing towards giant lily pads resting on the surface of the lake. Chaos 4 dove back under, swimming out of sight.

"Wow, he's more powerful than I thought," Sonic panted.

"I told you so, Sonic," Eggman gloated at his enemy. "Why don't you just surrender yourself right now?"

"We will never surrender to the likes of you!" Tails screamed.

With a mighty splash, Chaos 4 vaulted himself out of the water like a dolphin, aiming for Sonic. Sonic jumped out of the way onto another lily pad, and Chaos 4 dove back under.

"Look out!" Tails cried.

Unbeknownst to Sonic and Knuckles, Chaos 4 loomed behind them and discharged a powerful blast of energy, which they didn't react to in time.

Sonic and Knuckles were thrown into the water. Knuckles was good at swimming, so he was able to swim over to another lily pad. Sonic, however, didn't know how to swim, so the poor hedgehog was helplessly bobbing up and down in the water, going nowhere. Chaos 4 swam around and under Sonic like a hungry shark.

Chaos 4 leaped straight at Sonic, but Knuckles gave the monster a swift punch just before he would have struck the hedgehog. With Chaos 4 knocked back under the water, it gave Knuckles enough time to pull Sonic back up onto a lily pad.

"Do I really have to hold your hand all the time, Sonic?" Knuckles asked as Sonic got back up on his feet, coughing and gasping for air.

"I can do this. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog," Sonic said with determination. Chaos 4 rose back up out of the water, morphing into a large ball.

"Not this trick again!" Knuckles yelled.

Chaos 4 had other plans on his mind. He split himself into four smaller spheres, each of them bouncing towards the duo.

"Very creepy," Sonic said.

Like guided missiles, the spheres attacked Sonic and Knuckles in pairs. The heroes were frantically jumping from lily pad to lily pad, trying to outrun the spheres. After a few seconds, the spheres came together and morphed back into Chaos 4.

"I've had enough," Knuckles growled.

"Knuckles, when I say 'go'," Sonic told him, "fire me like a cannonball!"

Sonic jumped to another lily pad and charged up the Light Speed Dash. Chaos 4 swam towards him to stop Sonic's attack, but he was too late. Sonic took off, curled into a ball, and sped straight at Knuckles, who figured out what Sonic had planned to do. He summoned all of his strength, and gave Sonic a powerful kick with his right foot, sending Sonic barreling straight at the monster.

"Look out, Chaos 4!" Eggman warned.

It was too late. Sonic struck Chaos 4's body with extreme force, and the liquid life form exploded into millions of water droplets. Sonic unrolled himself and landed on the shore beside Tails.

"Wow, that was fun! Let's do it again!" Sonic said as he wiped his forehead.

Suddenly, a dark shadow blanketed the lake. A massive, magnificent flying ship sailed above their heads. The heroes looked up at it with dread.

"Behold my latest creation, the Egg Carrier!" Eggman cackled triumphantly. "Savor every second of your well-deserved victory, because I promise that it will be your last."

"Oh, no you don't!" Sonic angrily yelled as two beams of light came down from the Egg Carrier. One hit Eggman and the other hit the remains of Chaos 4. Both of them were pulled upward into the ship's hull. The Egg Carrier began to fly away.

"Come on, we have to stop them!" Sonic told his friends.

"You guys go on without me," Knuckles said. "I have an important task of my own to finish."

"Let's meet up again soon," Tails said to Knuckles as Sonic climbed into the Tornado with him. The propeller spun and they sailed into the sky, ready to take on the Egg Carrier.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dr. Eggman sat in the control bridge of the Egg Carrier. Below him were Decoe and Bocoe, as well as a team of short, round-bodied Eggpawn robots operating the controls.

"Doctor," Decoe alerted, "Something is following us."

One of the robots pressed a button, which lowered a large monitor in front of Eggman.

"It's those pesky animals again!" Eggman growled, seeing Sonic and Tails in hot pursuit of the Egg Carrier from behind. "I'll show them what happens when that gang of hooligans crosses Dr. Eggman!"

The Tornado streaked through a thick layer of clouds, and then the Egg Carrier came into view, in all its magnificent glory.

"Get ready, Tails!" Sonic yelled.

Tails pulled back on the throttle, accelerating the plane to full speed. In response, several laser guns aimed themselves at the Tornado.

"Look out, Tails! Incoming!" alerted Sonic.

"They won't bring us down!" Tails said.

The Egg Carrier unleashed several streams of laser fire. Tails was known for his piloting skills, as he clearly demonstrated by rolling to the side and dodging the lasers. Tails then blasted a set of laser cannons on one side of the Egg Carrier to smithereens using the Tornado's machine guns. He then streaked behind the Egg Carrier to do the same on the other side, destroying those as well.

"Nice work!" Sonic applauded.

"This is only the beginning of it all!" Eggman roared as the Tornado flew above the Egg Carrier. "Missiles away!"

A series of small cannons took aim and fired a series of missiles straight at the Tornado. Sonic jumped out of the plane and attacked one missile, disrupting its path. The missile was deflected towards the others, and they all crashed into each other, setting off an impressive display of mini-explosions. Tails then maneuvered the Tornado downwards at a steep angle to catch up with Sonic. The hedgehog landed on the Tornado's wing and the plane rocketed back up into the sky.

Meanwhile, in Station Square, Amy Rose was walking down a sidewalk, carrying a bag of groceries. "I really miss Sonic," she said in a slightly depressed tone. "Every day is the same, and there's nothing to do except shop until I drop. There was always something to do with Sonic around." She stopped, lost in a fantasy about going on a date with Sonic and watching the sunset together.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and a massive shadow was cast over Station Square, snapping Amy back to reality. "That's weird," she said. "The sky's getting dark, but I didn't see anything in the forecast about a storm."

Everyone, including Amy, looked up at the sky. The dreaded Egg Carrier soared over the metropolis, and the deafening roar of its engines drowned out every other sound in the city.

"What is that?" Amy wondered. She then saw Eggman's logo on the ship. "That must be Dr. Eggman!" Behind the Egg Carrier, a tiny little speck was attacking it.

"The Tornado!" she shouted. "What is Tails thinking, trying to attack that thing?"

The Tornado fired its machine guns again, and Tails managed to blast a hole in the side of the ship. Something dropped out of the hole that Tails made.

"I've had enough of this," Eggman said. "Slow down the Egg Carrier."

The Egg Carrier's speed dropped considerably, and the Tornado, still flying at full speed, quickly made its way to the front of the Egg Carrier.

"What is he doing now?" Tails wondered.

"Prepare to fire the Eggbeam Cannon!" Eggman ordered. "I want that plane knocked out of the sky!"

"Charging sequence nearly complete," Decoe relayed to Eggman.

"Barrier shield activated," Bocoe piped up. "All systems are online and ready to fire at your command!"

The nose of the Egg Carrier opened up, revealing a massive, eye-shaped power cannon. The cannon gathered and stored a vast amount of energy in the ship's core.

"Let's blow them away with my new weapon. FIRE!" Eggman ordered.

The cannon began to glow, and a burst of neon-blue energy was shot forwards, straight at the Tornado. It travelled so fast that Tails didn't have time to react, and the Tornado's left wing was completely sliced off. Sonic fell straight down towards the ground, while Tails was sent spiraling out of control.

"Oh no!" Amy gasped and dropped her groceries. "I have to help them!" She was about to sprint towards the crash site when her attention was diverted by the object that fell from the Egg Carrier. It seemed to be coming straight for her. "What is that thing?" she wondered.

Before she knew it, she was bonked in the head by the object. "Ow! Watch where you're going!" she bawled, rubbing her head. She looked down to find a small blue bird laying on the ground.

"You poor little thing," she sorrowed. "Are you hurt?"

The bird was wearing a small brown locket around his neck. His big brown eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, do you have a name?" Amy asked the bird, who shook his head. "No? Then I'll give you one. Could I call you Bluebird?"

The newly christened Bluebird chirped happily and fluttered onto Amy's shoulder. "You can stay with me until you're feeling better," Amy said. "We need to find Tails right now and make sure he's okay."

Suddenly, a loud thump was heard from behind. They turned around and saw a big, green robot. It had a body shaped like a garbage can, and it had two long arms that ended in appendages that looked like big, black boxing gloves. It had two emotionless red eyes, and it used a pair of treaded wheels for its method of transportation. The robot's name was Zero.

Zero was known for its single-tracked mind. He charged at Amy and Bluebird, who quickly sidestepped away from the robot. Zero then turned around and began to chase them!

Amy and Bluebird dashed around the corner of a building, and Zero followed closely behind, punching the wall of the building and causing a section of it to crumble. In desperation, Amy dashed inside a burger shop and hid under a table. "That was close," she said, panting heavily. Zero stood right outside, looking into the window, trying to find Amy and Bluebird. His presence cast a shadow on the floor, causing Amy's heart to pound like a jackhammer. She didn't dare to move a single muscle, and it felt like an hour had passed before Zero gave up, throwing his fists in the air, and he completely disappeared from view.

With her heart racing, Amy and Bluebird peeked outside the door. With no sign of Zero, they stepped outside the restaurant and set off to find Sonic and Tails.

Over at the Emerald Coast Hotel, Sonic was found half-buried on the beach, with only his feet sticking up out of the sand.

"Tails?" he tried to call out, but his voice was muffled by the sand. He felt something jabbing his leg.

"Cut that out," Sonic said in a muffled and annoyed tone.

He managed to free himself, only to find a small girl holding a wooden stick gawking at him.

"You're not who I'm looking for," Sonic said, and he sped off to look for Tails.

Meanwhile, Big was wandering through the lush forest in Mystic Ruins. He finally captured a really frustrated Froggy, who was desperately squirming and struggling in Big's large arms.

"I gotcha now, Froggy," Big taunted as he headed back towards his wooden hut. "You caused a lot of trouble. Maybe once we get home I can see what's wrong with you."

Just ahead, the twisted remains of the Tornado were stuck high in the branches of a tall tree. Tails was unconscious, sitting in the pilot's seat. He slowly slid towards the edge. As Big was about to pass under, the little fox slid out of the plane and fell, knocking Big on the head. The feline fell onto his back, and Froggy managed to slip out of his grasp and hop away.

"Not again!" Big cried. "My poor little Froggy..."

After watching his pet escape once again, he turned his attention to Tails.

"Look at what you've done," whined Big. "Hey, are you okay, buddy?"

Big, being a very sweet and caring feline, couldn't bring himself to be upset over the little fox. He picked Tails up and slung him up onto Big's back before getting back on track with his mission, and set out to find Froggy once again.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird were walking down a sidewalk amongst a bunch of people, with Bluebird perched on her shoulder. Even though they were in an open area, meaning that they could have been spotted again by Zero, they felt safe for the time being.

"Hopefully I'll finally get to see Sonic. Life has been so boring without him. He'll likely take care of our problems and destroy that mean robot, right, Bluebird?" The bird chirped in response. Suddenly, Amy saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"I can't believe it," Amy smiled with passion and joy. An all-too-familiar blue figure was walking in front of her, with his back turned. This was the moment that Amy had been waiting months for: the return of her truest love. "My wish has come true! SOOONIIIC!"

That familiar voice screeched through Sonic's ears and made his quills stand on end. Sonic was quite reluctant to turn around, but before he knew it, his self-proclaimed girlfriend had her arms wrapped around him in a very tight embrace.

"Sonic, thank goodness you're okay!" Amy cried on Sonic's back. "It's been so long! I missed you!"

"Yeah it's, uh... nice to see you again," Sonic said, struggling to break free from Amy's grasp.

Finally, she let go of Sonic. While Sonic was trying to catch his breath, Amy explained to Sonic the dire situation that she and Bluebird were in.

"We are in terrible danger, Sonic," Amy told him. "You have to help us."

"From what?" Sonic asked.

"Well, there's this creepy robot that's been chasing us around. If you don't protect us from it, we're just gonna tag along anyway." Amy continued. "You may be the fastest thing alive, but you still can't escape the likes of me!"

Sonic knew that Amy's last sentence was very serious. Amy was never subtle about her infatuation with the blue hedgehog.

"Okay then, Amy," Sonic gave in. "I'll be your bodyguard."

"Hold on," Amy said. "I saw you helping Tails chase the Egg Carrier. That means that you went without me! How dare you! And you didn't even think of telling me!"

Sonic, with his arms up, slowly backed away from a rather furious Amy. "Can we, uh, discuss this later? We have to find Tails!"

Amy agreed to let the subject go for now. The only thing that really mattered was that Sonic was back in her life again.

Together, they walked to the other end of the city, searching for Tails. The trio came across the entrance to Twinkle Park. Amy let out a scream of excitement.

"Now what?" Sonic wondered.

"Look, Sonic," Amy said, pointing to the sign. "It says, 'Cute couples get in free'!"

Sonic was not nearly as excited as Amy at the thought of going to the amusement park as a couple. Amy continued to gaze at the entrance to Twinkle Park when Bluebird suddenly cowered behind Amy's shoulder, chirping loudly. On the other end of the sidewalk near the Emerald Coast Hotel, the menacing Zero stood, with its sights locked on the trio.

"Subject identified. Target acquired. Begin capture sequence," Zero spoke in a low, mechanical voice.

"Look, Sonic!" Amy said. "That's the robot that's after us!"

"Don't worry," Sonic grinned. "He's just a metallic bag of bolts. I'll take care of him."

Zero launched its fist at Amy and Bluebird, but Sonic knocked it aside.

"Keep your metallic hands off of her, trash head," Sonic demanded.

Amy giggled. "He's such a hottie," she chuckled, blushing madly at Sonic's actions.

Thinking that Sonic would finish off Zero, Amy ran inside the park with Bluebird and disappeared out of sight.

Since Zero only had one mission, he fired a laser at Sonic, knocking him down to the ground, and Zero began pursuing his targets, now that his only obstacle was momentarily down.

"Rats," Sonic groaned as he got to his feet. "I have to save them!" Sonic dashed into the elevator that led up to the park's entrance.

Since Zero was now inside the park, hundreds of people were put in danger. Amy and Bluebird were strolling around the park, looking at the park's many rides and attractions.

"This would be the perfect place to go on a date with Sonic," Amy said, lost in another fantasy. That was disrupted by a series of screams from the park guests behind her. The people were running away from something. Turning around, Amy and Bluebird stared straight into Zero's menacing, emotionless face.

"Does that trashcan of a robot ever give up?!" Amy screamed and ran away from their potential captor. "What does he want to do with us anyway?"

The duo fled through a chaotic crowd of screaming people, and they eventually made their way to the park's haunted castle. Once inside, they ran down a curved hallway, and they saw a door to their right.

"Quick! Hurry!" Amy yelled and slammed the door, hoping that Zero had lost them. They found themselves in a huge room filled with a giant maze of mirrored walls.

"Oh my gosh! What are we gonna do?" Amy shrieked. Dozens of reflections of herself and Bluebird surrounded them, and Amy was beyond confused. She had no idea where the exit was. She was left to feel her way through the confusing labyrinth. They didn't have a lot of time, though. Dozens of Zero's terrifying image were reflected from all directions in the mirrors.

"Oh, no! That thing found us!" Amy panicked. "I don't know which one is real!"

They were undoubtedly in danger. The terrified duo tried to run through the maze while avoiding Zero, but they didn't know which way was which. They were easily frightened, seeing several reflected images of Zero moving around, not knowing which one was real. They continued to blindly run around like rats until Zero's fist punched through and shattered one of the mirrors. The robot's shadow loomed behind Amy and Bluebird, and Amy screamed as loud as her lungs could allow.

Just when all hope seemed to be lost, Sonic showed up in the midst of the chaos, much to Amy's immense relief. He jumped straight at Zero, knocking the robot down to the ground. It slid across the floor, crashing into more mirrors, which shattered into thousands of pieces. The debris rained down on everyone, and Sonic quickly pulled Amy out of the way as shards of glass flew everywhere, littering the floor.

"Amy, are you okay?" Sonic asked worriedly.

"You saved us, Sonic," Amy cried, her eyes welling up with tears. "I love you."

Sonic did not return Amy's last words. "Amy, just focus on getting out to a safe place," Sonic said. "I'll handle this."

"B-but what about you, Sonic?"

"Since when have I lost to any of Eggman's robots, Amy?" Sonic grinned. Amy and Bluebird hightailed out of the rubble as fast as they could. Zero attempted to chase them, but Sonic got in his way.

"Sorry, tin can, but your date is with me now," Sonic grinned, rolled into a ball, and jumped straight at Zero, who deflected Sonic with his fist.

"No way!" Sonic yelped in surprise and anger.

Zero raised its fists in the air and brought them down hard towards the ground. It caused a seismic shockwave that destroyed every last mirror and caused the entire room to cave in on itself. Concrete, metal, glass, and other debris rained down on both of them, and Sonic braced himself as he and Zero were completely buried under the rubble. Once the dust cleared away, a huge pile of broken concrete, glass, and other debris was all that was left of the collapsed room. However, something stirred inside the rubble, and Zero harmlessly busted from the wreckage without a single scratch.

"Obstacle successfully eliminated. Resuming capture sequence," he said.

Zero immediately fled the scene to chase Amy and Bluebird, leaving Sonic who appeared to be buried alive.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the lush forest of Mystic Ruins, a younger Tails was walking around with his head drooping, feeling lonely and sad. He looked like he had lost a really good friend. Suddenly, he saw something zip by him really fast.

"Whoa! What was that?" Tails cried out in surprise.

He managed to get a quick look at which direction the blur was moving and he started to follow it. He reached a couple of thick bushes and peeked through them. Sonic was stretching his arms and legs, and then he took off again.

"That guy is fast!" Tails exclaimed. "I wonder if I can catch up with him at all."

Spinning his two tails like a propeller, he jumped through the bushes and zoomed across the ground at high speed. The blue hedgehog in front of him raced through the trees, completely carefree. Tails instantly began to respect and admire this stranger. Sonic turned his head around and spotted the young fox, who was trying to catch up to him.

"Very nice," Sonic said, "But let's see what you think of this! I'm not even running at full speed!"

Sonic bolted, creating a loud bang as he broke the sound barrier, leaving Tails in his dusty wake.

Once the dust cleared, Sonic was completely out of sight, but he was still speeding around in the fox's mind. But Tails wasn't about to give up.

"I can do this," Tails said with determination.

He spun his tails like a helicopter rotor, and Tails lifted off the ground and flew forward, flying higher and higher. Meanwhile, Sonic skidded to a stop, wondering if his admirer was still there, but the fox was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess I was a little too fast for the kid," Sonic said and prepared to turn around to look for Tails. "I should check on him."

A voice called out from above, and to Sonic's surprise, the little fox was flying high in the sky.

"Wow! How did he do that?" Sonic wondered. "That is amazing!"

Tails lowered himself down to the ground in front of Sonic.

"For a kid your age, that is really cool!" Sonic said to Tails. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. What's your name?"

"My name is Miles Prower," Tails enthusiastically said. "But everyone calls me Tails."

"It definitely suits you," Sonic said, noticing the fox's twin tails. "Can you do anything else, Tails?"

"Well, Sonic, you may think I'm a geek here, but I love building and fixing machines," Tails said. "When it comes to technology, I'm the one to go to."

"Tails," Sonic replied, seeing the young kid's potential, "I have a plane that I happen to own. I think you might want to check it out. It's called the Tornado. I'll race you there!"

Sonic bolted onward and Tails soared into the sky, following Sonic. It was at that moment that their powerful bond was formed. Before Tails could do anything, the scene faded out and the dream was over. Tails sleepily woke up and found himself riding on Big's back.

"Where in the world am I?" Tails moaned.

"Hey," Big said, lowering Tails to the ground. "You're awake! I found you in the forest, and you didn't wake up. I decided to carry you with me so that nothing would happen to you."

"Oh, I see," Tails replied. "Thank you for taking care of me. What's your name?"

"My name is Big," the purple cat happily answered.

"Nice to meet you, Big. I'm Tails. Sorry to leave like this, but I have to get going. I've got a job to do. See ya later!" And with that, Tails ran off to look for another emerald.

"Bye-bye! Such a nice kid," Big said, waving his hand. "All right, Froggy, here I come!"

The large cat began to walk forward, but he was stopped when he saw a small red light float down in front of him. Big was surprised, but then he was amazed by how pretty it was.

"Wow, you're really pretty!" Big chuckled. "Where did you come from?"

"You have a warm heart," the light giggled. "Compliments and manners like that are quite rare in this world. I shall bestow these gifts upon you. Use them to find your friend."

Big watched the light circle around him, and his fishing rod and belt began to glow. Once the glow disappeared, his wooden fishing rod had been replaced by a yellow and black one made of metal, and his brown leather belt was replaced by a thicker green one.

"These are the Power Rod and Life Belt," the light said. "Now hurry and find your friend before anything bad happens to him."

With that, Big smiled at the light and left the area, looking at his new gear in wonder.

Meanwhile, Tails was walking through the lush forest, almost reminding him of his dream. "That dream brought back so many memories," Tails said in a very happy tone. He looked up at the moon in the sky. "The Tornado wasn't powerful enough to take on the Egg Carrier. If I want to stand a chance against Eggman, I have to finish working on my prototype, and fast! I have to use a chaos emerald to power it, but there's no way I'll be able to find one in this dense forest without any kind of guidance."

Suddenly, the mysterious red light swooped down in front of Tails as if it knew what he was wishing for. He knew right then and there that the light didn't appear by coincidence. He saw the light veer down a path to his left, and Tails followed it, certain that it would lead him to the object of his desire.

Meanwhile, a cleanup crew had been called in to clear out the rubble from the collapsed mirror room that was caused by Sonic and Zero fighting. A team of four people were busy gathering and sweeping away the shards of glass and bits of concrete from the pile. Suddenly, the pile began to stir, and Sonic flew out of the rubble like a cannonball. Everybody jumped back as broken glass and concrete rained harmlessly around the crew. Sonic was moaning and scratching his head.

"Hey, it's Sonic!" one man shouted. Everyone walked over to check on him, but the leader commanded them to step back. "He needs some air. Let him breathe," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just give me a few seconds," Sonic panted. After stretching his legs and arms, Sonic stood upright, ready to take on Zero now that he had all of his strength back.

"Later guys, I'm outta here!" Sonic said as he bolted away. Jumping over Twinkle Park's entrance gate, he exited the park and stopped near the Emerald Coast Hotel. He looked up into the sky, seeing that it was night outside.

"Wow, I must have been buried a little longer than I thought," Sonic said. "I really hope that robot hasn't grabbed Amy yet. I'd better go and look for her and Bluebird, and I have to do so quickly! That's why I'm the fastest thing alive!"

Sonic grinned, and he raced down several streets at sizzling speeds, but he didn't find any sign of Amy or Bluebird. He raced up the side of a towering skyscraper and stood on the edge of the roof, overlooking the whole city. From this vantage point, the city was glittering in the night sky like a Christmas tree. It was truly a picturesque and beautiful sight, but Sonic had more urgent things on his mind.

"She could be anywhere!" Sonic complained as he jumped back down to the street.

Zero was searching the streets of Station Square, relentlessly trying to find Amy and Bluebird. Many citizens noticed the robot, but they didn't sense any danger given the age they were living in, and also since the robot wasn't doing anything but acting like a pedestrian. It passed by a narrow alley. Zero never knew it, but in the middle of that alley, Amy and Bluebird were curled up in a large cardboard box near a dumpster, sound asleep.

Meanwhile, Tails followed the red light through the forest, and he arrived at a clump of bushes. He dug through the bushy plants, and before long, he felt something silky smooth and hard, and pulled it out. It was a red chaos emerald, and it glowed in his hand.

Suddenly, a bright, red light was released from the emerald. Tails almost dropped it in shock. He closed his eyes to shield them from the blinding light.

"W-w-what's happening?" Tails cried. Slowly, the light faded out and he was able to open his eyes again.

He was standing in the ancient echidna village, the same one that Knuckles was brought to before. Right in front of him, the massive stone temple stood, and he noticed something about it, as Knuckles did before him.

"That temple looks strangely familiar. I wonder why?" Tails asked.

He noticed the echidna villagers walking around the area.

"Wow, they look an awful lot like Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed in amazement. "I always thought he was the last of their kind! I must have been transported to the past. If so, then how do I get back?"

He walked towards the temple. A moment later, Tikal approached the temple and knelt down before it.

"Who is she?" Tails asked himself.

Tikal stood on one knee, with her head down and eyes closed. She began to say a kind of prayer.

"The servers are the seven Chaos," she began.

Tails overheard Tikal, and he wondered what the phrase meant. "Seven Chaos?" Tails said to himself.

Tikal noticed Tails paying attention to her and turned around. "Hello, friend," she warmly greeted with a cheerful expression.

"Uh, sorry," Tails said, "I didn't mean to interrupt you or anything, but what does 'the seven Chaos' mean?"

"My grandmother used to tell it to me a long time ago," Tikal answered. "It goes like this: 'The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the Chaos.' I'm not exactly sure what the meaning behind it is, but I have a feeling it has to do with the seven emeralds. Oh, I realized I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Tikal. What's your name, little friend?"

Before Tails had a chance to introduce himself, everything around him vanished. He then found himself in the forest, exactly where he was standing before this whole experience started. He was still clutching the red chaos emerald. Tails was marveling at how shiny the emerald was when he noticed his feet were glowing.

"What's happening?" Tails wondered.

The light faded, and Tails noticed a pair of small metallic objects on his shoes. The red light floated down in front of Tails.

"These are the Jet Anklets," the light spoke.

"Tikal?" Tails asked, recognizing its voice.

"They will allow you to fly faster than ever before!" The light vanished and Tails looked up into the night sky, reflecting on the day's events. A sliver of light appeared on the horizon, turning the entire sky a reddish-pink color.

"It's a brand new day," Tails declared. "I've got to finish that prototype as soon as possible, and then we can show Eggman what we're made of!"

Tails looked in the direction of his workshop and began to hover in the air. To his astonishment, the Jet Anklets started, almost as if by his will, and they expelled tiny streams of fire, thrusting Tails through the air at high speed.

"This is awesome!" Tails exclaimed. "With these Jet Anklets, I'll make it there in no time at all!"

True to his word, Tails arrived at his workshop in just one minute. The rising sun reflected off the glistening ocean. Tails safely landed right in front of the door.

He walked in and flipped the light switch, revealing a large tarp that hid his secret new plane. He grabbed his toolbox, took out a drill, screwdriver, and a wrench, and pulled the tarp off of his yet-to-be-finished plane. Intensely focused on his work, Tails continued building his ultimate plane that he hadn't been able to work on since this whole crisis began.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Deep within a forest that wasn't too far from the ancient temple was a large, metallic base that was mostly buried within a mountain. This was Eggman's new base. In the middle of the stronghold, Dr. Eggman was standing in a large chamber. He proudly watched a team of Eggpawn robots completing their work on Eggman's latest creation. In front of Eggman was a row of five large capsules.

"Activate the main power supply!" Eggman told one of his robots.

The robot pressed a large red button on an adjacent control panel. The entire chamber went pitch black, and large, powerful surges of electricity flowed down a series of thick steel wires that led to the capsules. The electrical surges lit up the whole room, and the bright light reflected off of Eggman's tinted glasses.

The massive surges of power came to a stop and the capsules opened up. Eggman boldly stepped forward as the capsules released clouds of billowing white smoke. The smoke soon dispersed to reveal five large multicolored robots.

"Behold," Eggman announced, "my new E-100 series robots!"

The five robots stepped out of their capsules. The robots all had nearly identical designs, but each robot had its own personal differences. They had short, round bodies, long, thin metal legs, yellow heads, green eyes, and either one or both of their short arms were equipped with some sort of weapon. A white number could be seen on both sides of their torsos. The black robot's number was 101. He boasted two guided missile launchers. The red robot's number was 102. His right arm had a smart missile launcher. The blue robot's number was 103. Like 101, he had two guided missile launchers as well, but he also had a jet pack to allow him to fly short distances. The orange robot's number was 104. Both of his arms ended with twin stinger missile launchers. The purple robot's number was 105 and he had a plasma gun on his left arm.

"Hello, my brand new creations," Eggman proudly greeted, "You five are the first in a new line of E-100 series robots. You are currently my most advanced models as of yet. Stand still and tall while I give you your codenames."

Eggman approached the black robot. "You are E-101. Your codename is Beta."

He approached the red robot. "You are E-102. Your codename is Gamma."

He approached the blue robot. "You are E-103. Your codename is Delta."

He approached the orange robot. "You are E-104. Your codename is Epsilon."

Finally, he approached the purple robot. "You are E-105. Your codename is Zeta."

"Yes, Doctor," all five E-100 robots spoke in unison.

"Now, robots, listen closely. You have each been given a special type of weapon, as well as unique abilities," Eggman continued. "In exactly one minute, you will be put through a series of tests to show off your special abilities. Those of you who pass the tests will be able to serve aboard the almighty and magnificent Egg Carrier! But that's not the best part. The best part is, you will also serve as the template for future E-100 robots! Behind you, you will see five doors. That is the entrance to your individual practice arenas. Just get in there and show off your abilities. Do not disappoint me, or else you might be dismantled."

The five robots each headed through their own set of doors, clearly marked by the robots' identification numbers. In their own arenas, each robot faced a targeting challenge. In front of the robots were a series of moving Sonic dolls. The robots all used their targeting lasers to lock on to each doll.

Beta fired two homing missiles which smashed each doll to smithereens. Gamma fired three small missiles one after the other, destroying every doll in a wide radius. Delta fired two missiles that were slightly larger than Beta's. One missile hit two dolls and the explosion obliterated four more, and the other missile accidentally hit a wall, blasting a large hole into it. Epsilon fired four stinger missiles that pierced each doll and exploded a fraction of a second later. Zeta spun around and released a beam of hot plasma that melted each doll, as well as partially melting the steel doors that were the entrance to the arena.

Eggman was watching each robot's scores on a large screen. With each passing minute, each robot's scores were climbing rapidly. The session soon ended, and every robot's score was above 8000, except for Beta. His was below 5500.

The robots exited their arenas with their weapons smoking. They were approached by a very impressed Eggman.

"Well done, you four," Eggman praised. "You have been granted the right to serve aboard the Egg Carrier." He then shifted his gaze to Beta with an angry expression on his face. "Beta, you disgrace, I don't understand why you scored so low! I have the authority to completely dispose of you and melt your metal shell and innards down to scrap metal! What do you say, Beta?"

"Sorry, Doctor," Beta whimpered.

"You know what, Beta? I happen to be in a rather good mood today, so I'm gonna give you a lucky break. If you fail to put your advanced skills to use, I won't be so nice next time. This will be your very last chance, got it?"

"Yes, Doctor," Beta replied.

"As for you all," Eggman said, acknowledging the other four robots, "You are to meet me in the Egg Carrier in exactly one hour for your first assignment. Failure to show up will result in immediate destruction and dismantlement. Now, move it!"

All five robots exited the chamber. The Egg Carrier rested in an open area in the forest. It lay dormant in this spot ever since it battled the Tornado. All of the robots, except for Beta, gathered in the large, airy main hall of the Egg Carrier. Decoe and Bocoe were standing beneath a pair of large spotlights, fighting each other for the microphone.

"Give it to me, Bocoe!" Decoe said.

"No, my turn!" Bocoe argued.

"I want to test the microphone!"

"You will have to wait your turn!"

Decoe grabbed the microphone. "Testing, testing, one, two, three!"

Bocoe piped up and spoke into the microphone. "Can you hear the sound of my voice?"

Finally, Decoe and Bocoe both yelled into the mic, "TESTING!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Eggman screamed, yanking the microphone from the hands of both robots. "Now, my E-100 creations, your brother, Beta, will not be joining us today. So, it'll be just the four of you undertaking this mission. Listen closely to the following instructions."

Behind the doctor, a large video screen turned on, displaying an image of a green frog with a tail.

"See this frog? It is a most unusual amphibian because it sports, of all things, a tail!" Eggman lectured. "I want you to bring this frog to me. Do whatever it takes to acquire it, even if it means fighting one of Sonic's miserable little friends. Failure is not an option, or else you'll be used as scrap metal. Now get out!"

"Yes, Doctor!" All four robots spoke in unison.

A large metal door slowly opened up and lowered to the ground, forming a massive ramp. The four robots exited the Egg Carrier and spread out into the forest to look for Froggy.

Meanwhile, back in Station Square, Amy and Bluebird crawled out of hiding. Finding no sign of Zero, they began strolling down the sidewalk.

"I think we've lost that creepy robot for good!" Amy said to Bluebird, who chirped happily.

"Since we have so much time on our hands, I think we should go to the mall and maybe buy a little present for Sonic! Who knows, maybe I could give him something I think he'd like and then he'd probably fall for me!"

All those happy thoughts were clouding Amy's mind, as she was about to learn the hard way. Something was silently creeping up behind her, and it wasn't until she noticed a dark shadow in front of her and Bluebird that they really began to panic. Amy turned to find Zero towering over the helpless duo. She screamed as loud as she could and she held Bluebird tightly in her hands, but it was too late. Zero finally grabbed the young hedgehog in its merciless metal fist. Fortunately, Sonic wasn't too far away and he heard the shrill, resonating echoes of Amy's cries.

"Amy!" Sonic exclaimed.

The speedy hedgehog didn't waste a single second. He raced over to the source of Amy's screams, but this time he arrived a split-second too late. He looked up to watch Zero fly over the city with Amy and Bluebird in its grasp.

"Let me go! SONIC!" Amy screamed as Zero began to fly further and further away from Sonic.

"Darn it," Sonic kicked himself. "I can't just let it fly off with them. It seems like they might be headed for Mystic Ruins. Hang on you two, I'm coming!" Sonic then hastily bolted through the city in hot pursuit of Amy's captor.

Meanwhile, Tails was in his workshop, and he had just applied the finishing touches to his brand new plane. He put his toolbox away and cleaned himself off, admiring his newest machine with pride. This new biplane, the Tornado II, looked similar to the older version of the Tornado except it was painted blue and yellow. Instead of Sonic's emblem on the tail, the fox painted his own twin-tailed emblem on it. The new plane also had a second seat.

"This is the moment I've been waiting for," Tails said. "All I have to do now is to add the power source!"

Tails hopped into the Tornado II and dug out the red chaos emerald that he recently acquired. He slid the glittering jewel into a slot below the control panel. The emerald briefly flashed while it was adjusting to its new home.

The large doors opened up to reveal the runway, which the plane zoomed down and soared up into the air above the ocean. From there, he began searching for Sonic.

Meanwhile, Big's relentless search for Froggy had led him to a large beach somewhere in Mystic Ruins near the train station. He was sitting against a palm tree with the hook on his new Power Rod floating just barely under the lake.

"Froggy," Big called out, "I have a tasty cherry here just for you!"

The cherry, hooked onto the end of Big's line, was waving around in the water, but this time, Froggy simply ignored the tasty fruit. The chaos energy residing in Froggy's body took near-complete control over the frog.

After a few minutes, Big decided to pull his rod out of the water. To his disappointment, the cherry was still hooked on. "This isn't working anymore," Big pouted. "I'll just have to jump in and grab you myself."

With that, Big ran into the water. Froggy had a horrified expression on his face, and he frantically kicked his legs back, trying to get away from Big. He then noticed Gamma standing beside the beach. Seeing that Gamma was one of Eggman's robots, Froggy's horrified expression changed into a wicked grin. The unnaturally powerful frog leaped right out of the water and onto the beach, and hopped straight towards Gamma. Noticing the tail, Gamma quickly scooped up a very excited Froggy and began to run back into the forest. Horrified, Big watched his beloved pet being taken away before his very own eyes.

"I have the real frog!" Gamma proudly stated.

"Put him down!" Big hollered and started to chase after Gamma. "Don't worry, Froggy, I'll save you!"

Gamma was running towards the Egg Carrier, holding onto his precious cargo. Suddenly, a wave of blinding light hit Gamma. Once the light cleared, Gamma found himself standing on a grassy area near a large stone bridge that connected this area to another piece of land. Froggy was no longer in his possession. Below the bridge flowed a stream of sparkling blue water.

"Scanning area," Gamma spoke. "Determining location. Accessing data. No data found. This presents a problem."

Looking across the bridge, Gamma saw a magnificent shrine made of stone. Surrounding the shrine was a large, shallow pool of water that looked like it was flowing from the shrine itself.

Gamma began to walk across the bridge to get a closer look at the shrine. He then heard something that sounded like singing from up ahead. The closer he got to the shrine, the singing grew louder and louder.

He came to the shrine and paused. A group of adorable little blue creatures were standing right in front of the robot. They had large, raindrop-shaped heads, short bodies, stubby arms and feet, and a tiny pair of pink wings on their backs. They all appeared to be singing to the shrine in unison. These creatures were known as Chao.

Chao-chao-chao, chao, chao-chao-chao, they sung with little, high-pitched voices. The pool of water appeared to be resonating with their singing. Gamma listened intently and quietly, not sure how to process it all. He attempted to move a little closer, but a shrill voice suddenly called out, "No, don't get any closer to them!" Gamma stopped right on the spot.

The voice came from Tikal, who was standing behind him. "Oh, you're just listening to them singing, are you? I'm sorry," she apologized to Gamma.

She walked up to Gamma and stood beside him, watching the Chao as well.

"Were you able to feel the presence guarding these little children?" Tikal asked. "He's a caring and gentle creature. These little creatures are too vulnerable and helpless without his protection. This protection allows them to continue singing in peace. I was very surprised the first time I laid eyes on him." Tikal began to cry. "But... now my father is going to take away their sacred home. His power is unimaginably fierce. If these poor creatures ever succumb to harm, his wrath will reach the deepest nooks and crannies of our planet! My father's heart seems to be closed off to all of us. We must learn to understand each other, and live in peace and harmony. But if my father decides to attack, the creature will become angry! Oh, please, don't let that day come!"

A white light engulfed Gamma and he found himself standing in the middle of the forest, with Froggy still in his possession. Gamma chose not to dwell on this experience, and he started heading back towards the Egg Carrier.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Meanwhile, since his battle with Chaos 4, Knuckles had collected a good number of shards of the Master Emerald. His quest was nearly completed. His search brought him to the site of the ancient temple.

"My senses..." Knuckles said, "I have a hunch that there's another shard in this temple."

The mysterious red light flew down in front of Knuckles. Sensing his desire, it flew up the stone stairs into the entrance of the temple. Knuckles followed the light, racing up the stairs and entering the temple's mysterious, darkened interior. The light darted around a corner, leading Knuckles into a narrow stone corridor. After walking down a long flight of stairs, Knuckles found himself in a large, circular chamber. Inside the chamber was a tall tower that stood on a large mound of sand. A large pool of water surrounded the entire area, and a small shaft of daylight bathed down on the tower like a spotlight. Sitting on top of the tower were three large glowing pieces of the Master Emerald. Knuckles jumped up to the top of the tower and collected the shards. Suddenly, the red light flew in front of him, causing the shards to emit an intense light.

"This again," Knuckles groaned while shielding his eyes.

Once the blinding light faded away, Knuckles was able to open his eyes. He expected to be back at the echidna village, but instead he stood in the sacred grounds of the Master Emerald shrine, the very place where Knuckles used to guard the Master Emerald day in, day out.

The shrine looked even more magnificent than Knuckles imagined it used to look like. Several pillars held up a large roof, and a large pool of water surrounded the structure. Seven tall, stone poles surrounded the shrine. Perched on top of each pole was a chaos emerald. The seven emeralds shimmered in the bright sunlight.

"This light has taken me to the past again," Knuckles gasped. His jaw was wide open in amazement as he gawked at the majesty and beauty of the magnificent shrine.

He then saw the young girl, Tikal, standing in front of the shrine. She began to walk towards the stone steps leading to the top of the shrine.

"Oh, Great Emerald, I beg of you. Hear me now," Tikal prayed. "My father is coming here soon, and he is planning an invasion. He refuses to listen to me, and I fear what may happen. Please, you must take everyone away from here and flee."

Knuckles was watching from behind, but he wasn't sure exactly what or who she was saying it to. Tikal began to walk up the steps, looking at the sunlight reflecting off the shimmering chaos emeralds. Knuckles quietly and carefully followed her up the steps. Once they reached the top, Knuckles' eyes swelled in astonishment. Tikal was standing before the altar where the all-powerful Master Emerald stood, in all its majestic glory. The Master Emerald was glowing brightly, as if it was communicating with Tikal.

"It seems like you want to tell me something," Tikal said to the Master Emerald, which emitted a burst of green light in response. "I see, you're unable to leave this place."

The Master Emerald continued to shine, indicating to Tikal that it had more to say. The pure-hearted female echidna was able to sense the emerald's awareness of her desires.

"I understand," Tikal answered. "Let me talk to my father again. There must be a way to solve this problem once and for all."

Tikal was about to leave when a small group of Chao floated in front of her. "Chao, chao-chao, chao," they said.

"Don't worry, my friends," Tikal comforted them. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

"Chao!" they happily responded.

Tikal then walked away, and the Chao began to follow her. A bright light surrounded Knuckles, and when he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself back on the fallen Angel Island, standing right before the ruins of the Master Emerald shrine.

"I'm back on Angel Island!" Knuckles remarked. "But why? What are these visions of Tikal trying to tell me?"

The warrior echidna had so many questions that he wanted to be answered, but now wasn't the time. Since he was back at the Master Emerald shrine, he saw this as an opportunity to see how many pieces of the Master Emerald he had gathered so far. He rushed up the steps and stood before the altar. He opened up his sack and the shards of the precious gem floated out and hovered above the altar. They started to spin around in circles, glowing with a pulsing light.

A brilliant flash of green light was released as the pieces fused together. Once the light cleared, the Master Emerald was restored to its former, majestic self, glowing as brilliantly as ever. Or so he thought. Knuckles saw a large piece missing from one of its edges.

"It's almost restored, but there's still a missing piece," Knuckles said. "I've searched everywhere I could! Where could it possibly be hiding?"

Knuckles sat down and thought long and hard about where the last piece could possibly be found. The Master Emerald sensed this and it did something rather peculiar: it projected an image within itself. Knuckles peered into the Master Emerald to make out what it was showing him. To his honest surprise, it was showing him the Egg Carrier!

"That's Eggman's ship!" Knuckles said in astonishment. "Is that really where the last piece is?"

The Master Emerald shone brightly in response. "Well," Knuckles said as he turned around and walked down the steps, "I think it's time I pay that rotten egg a little visit."

Later on, Knuckles was walking through a dense forest, searching for the Egg Carrier.

"Where could it possibly be?" Knuckles wondered. "Something that big really shouldn't be that hard to find."

The echidna was growing impatient. That didn't last long, since he heard metallic, thudding footsteps. He darted and hid behind a tree, but he was ready for anything that came his way. Gamma came into view, still holding Froggy, and he was walking through a narrow pathway in the middle of a dense clump of trees. He was the source of the footsteps that Knuckles was hearing.

"That looks like one of Eggman's robots," Knuckles said to himself. "Maybe if I follow it, it might lead me straight to the Egg Carrier!" He began to quietly stalk Gamma and follow him through the forest.

Big showed up as well, but he and Knuckles weren't aware of each other's presence. He was following Gamma as well.

"Froggy," he wept. "What's wrong with you? Where's that mean robot taking you?"

Before long, Gamma arrived at the Egg Carrier along with Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta. They were all holding rather bizarre-looking frogs. Knuckles and Big watched, still unaware of each other's presence.

"Finally, there it is," Knuckles said.

"My buddy! It's Froggy!" Big cried.

The large ramp lowered itself down and the four robots walked up into the Egg Carrier. Knuckles and Big moved quickly. Knuckles decided to sneak in via the side of the ship. Big went on impulse, running through the front entrance. However, he was at least smart enough to hide in a storage closet, safely out of sight for the time being.

Moments later, the engines started. Powerful winds generated by the thrust of the engines swayed and bent the trees, and the Egg Carrier lifted off the ground and began to fly away. No one knew its destination except for Eggman himself.

The four robots were standing in the hall, and Gamma was forced to listen to his brothers argue and quarrel with each other.

"I have the right frog," Epsilon proudly claimed.

"No, I have the right one," Delta argued.

"Mine is the real frog," objected Zeta.

For some reason, Gamma refused to participate in his brothers' squabble, even though he knew that he had the true frog. Suddenly, footsteps were heard, and Eggman appeared. The four robots lined up next to each other as their villainous master inspected their cargo. He took one look at their frogs and he was immediately stricken with anger. To him, none of them were the one he wanted.

"What the heck is this?!" he screamed. "You idiots, how could you screw up such a simple task? You are elite models, not just some mindless robots that kids built! These aren't the frogs I wanted! Do you see a tail anywhere?!"

"Sorry," Delta whimpered, pointing his missile launcher at his head.

"I can't believe this!" Eggman continued to rant. "I built you to serve me on the Egg Carrier, and you messed up on your very first real assignment!"

His ranting then came to a sudden halt when he looked at Gamma. "Yes!" Eggman said with a gleeful tone. "This is it! This is the frog I wanted! I just knew you would make me proud, Gamma! Good job," Eggman said, patting Gamma on the head. "I just knew you would be useful to me!"

The doctor's angry eyes then shifted to the other three. They all looked worried and rather frightened, and they had good reason to be.

"You're useless! Get out of my sight! Bocoe!" Eggman called his silver henchbot over.

"Yes, Doctor?" Bocoe asked.

"Destroy them all except Gamma!" Eggman commanded as a small button rose up out of the floor on a pedestal.

Shaking, Bocoe obeyed and said in a quivering voice, "Yes, Doctor." With his eyes squeezed shut, he pressed the button.

Bocoe's actions brought three beams of light raining down on Delta, Epsilon and Zeta. Zeta and Epsilon instantly disappeared in the lights, while Delta took one last look at his brother. Gamma could only watch as his robotic sibling disappeared right before his very own eyes, and he stayed silent. Seeing just how cruel and easy it was for Eggman to dispose of his brothers stirred mixed feelings within Gamma. Still, he kept completely silent about it, since he was under Eggman's command.

His egg-shaped master then grabbed Froggy from his hands. "Gamma," he said, "Stay here and wait for further instructions. I have some more precious cargo that I have to get my hands on."

Meanwhile, Zero finally arrived in Mystic Ruins, still clutching Amy and Bluebird in his merciless metal fist. Amy was screaming and pounding on his fist.

"Put me down, scrap brain!" Amy ordered.

They then heard someone let out a shrill whistle from somewhere above. Sonic was perched on top of the train station platform above their heads. He jumped down and decided to confront Zero face-to-face.

"Alright, you oversized tin can," Sonic ordered, "I am through with playing around. Put Amy down or I'll tear you apart, piece by piece!"

Zero never responded to Sonic's threatening words. The hedgehog had lost the last of his patience and decided to go in for the attack. Sonic curled up into a ball and spin-dashed straight at Zero, who flew up in the air, dodging Sonic's attack. Zero then landed and taunted Sonic, throwing its arms up in the air.

"Watch it, robot," Amy scowled, becoming dizzy.

Sonic then tried to attack the large metal fist holding Amy and Bluebird, but Zero deflected Sonic off of it.

Sonic was about to jump straight at Zero's head when a shadow shrouded the whole area in darkness. The dreaded Egg Carrier was hovering right above them.

"The Egg Carrier?" Sonic gasped. "Oh no!"

A beam of light came down from the Egg Carrier onto Zero, Amy, and Bluebird, and pulled them up towards the Egg Carrier.

"No! Sonic, help!" Amy screamed just before they disappeared into the hull of the ship.

With its new payload aboard, the Egg Carrier began to advance through the sky. The mysterious red light responded to the crisis and flew down towards Sonic.

"Hurry up, Sonic," the light urged. "Get to the mountaintop. You still have some time. Take this with you."

The light revolved around Sonic, and he was surrounded by several small swirling lights, which drew themselves into his very being. The hedgehog began to glow neon blue for a moment.

"This is the Ancient Light," the red light spoke. "You can now perform a powerful move called the Light Speed Attack. Good luck, friend."

After it disappeared, Sonic was about to put this new ability to the test. He began to race forward, speeding up the rocky surface of the mountain. At the top, he got a really good view of the Egg Carrier as it passed through a wall of clouds. He then charged up the Light Speed Dash, and several orbs of blue energy drew themselves into the golden studs on Sonic's shoes. He blazed off the edge of a cliff. Next, with such high speed and momentum, he glowed blue for a moment and catapulted himself through the clear blue sky like a rocket. He flew through the air, jumping from peak to peak with incredible accuracy and agility. Sonic jumped, but he then dropped down onto a lower cliff just as the Egg Carrier flew over his head. The flying fortress was too high up for Sonic to reach.

"No!" Sonic groaned, falling to his knees and punching his fist into the ground. The Egg Carrier was too far away, and way out of the hedgehog's reach. Before he could be overcome with despair, however, he heard a buzzing sound to his right. Tails appeared in his new Tornado II.

"Tails!" Sonic said with excitement, "You're okay!"

"Sonic, hop in!" Tails said, waving to Sonic. The Tornado flew towards the cliff. Just as the plane passed by, Sonic ran towards the edge and jumped into the plane's rear seat.

Armed with the new and more powerful Tornado II, they now had the tools and weapons they needed to fight the deadly assault of the Egg Carrier for the second time. The sky slowly became shrouded with black, ominous thunderclouds.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in the ferocious, blackened sky. The Egg Carrier soon appeared in their sights.

Eggman was sitting in his seat, high up in the control bridge. He pressed a button on a panel that activated the intercom system. He called out to Gamma.

"Gamma," Eggman bellowed, "Here's your new assignment. I want you to retrieve the little blue bird in the prison hall. Make it snappy."

Gamma was reluctant at first, but knowing how easily Eggman could dispose of him, he complied with his master's order. He walked down the massive main hall and went through a sliding door.

Now that Eggman's plans were going well, he decided he should take a break. He leaned back and reclined in his chair and began to close his eyes for a nap. Suddenly, an alarm went off. He ordered Decoe and Bocoe to show the source of the disturbance on the large monitor in front of Eggman. The screen displayed a live video feed of the Tornado II closing in on the Egg Carrier.

"What are those pests doing?" Eggman growled. "I see that history has taught them nothing. I brought them down once, so I can and will do it again, new plane or not!"

Outside, Tails began to maneuver his plane closer to the Egg Carrier. Before they started to attack, Tails had a very special surprise for both Sonic and Eggman.

"Hang on, Sonic!" he told his best friend. "We're about to enter Jet Mode!"

After pressing a series of buttons and pulling a lever, the Tornado II began to transform. The propeller retracted into the fuselage, and a jet engine slid out from underneath the plane. The wings then changed position, creating an "X" formation, and the tail raised up a little bit.

"Wow, this is quite the plane, Tails!" Sonic said in amazement.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, Sonic!" Tails boasted.

Now faster than ever, the plane streaked through the sky. Tails began to launch the first attack on the Egg Carrier, firing the plane's more advanced machine guns, and dozens of armor-piercing rounds struck the Egg Carrier, which began to show signs of moderate damage. The laser guns that had been destroyed during the previous battle were either repaired or replaced, and they returned fire, causing Tails to frantically shift the plane up, down, left, and right to dodge the deadly beams of light.

"How could they!" Eggman yelped in surprise at how well Tails' new plane was performing. "Let's up the ante a little bit. Rear missile turrets, fire!"

A series of small missiles barreled towards the Tornado II. There were too many to shoot down at once, but Tails had a tactical and rather risky idea.

"Keep your lunch down, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed, pulling back on the control stick. "Here we go!"

The Tornado II was sent spiraling up into the sky. Tails did this in hopes that the spinning would shake the missiles off their trajectory. Sonic desperately hung on to the sides of the seat, his stomach lurching. The plane, spinning furiously and rolling over too many times to count, caused the missiles behind it to follow its exact movement. The missiles were thrown off course, and they collided with each other, exploding in loud, fiery blasts. The Tornado II stopped spinning and leveled off to continue the battle. Sonic sat in his seat with his head spinning and his mouth was drooling with saliva, feeling like he was about to vomit.

"Tails," Sonic groaned, "Don't ever do that again."

Flying right over the Egg Carrier, the Tornado II spun around, facing the fortress head on.

"I've had enough with them," Eggman growled. "Transform the Egg Carrier!"

This command caused the fearsome vessel to undergo a transformation of its own. The massive panels on the sides of the ship began to unfold and spread out like wings. The triangular engine clusters were now hanging below the wings, and their secondary function was revealed: they doubled as gigantic missile launchers.

"Impressive, Doc!" Sonic said. "Transform all you want. You still won't be able to defeat us!"

"You wanna bet, guys?" Eggman roared. "FIRE!"

The Egg Carrier's missile launchers spat out a large cluster of rockets, all of them heading straight at the Tornado II. Sonic rose up from his seat. He has had enough idle time. He jumped right out of the plane and began a rolling spin. Charging up the Light Speed Attack, several blue orbs of energy drew themselves into him. Glowing with a neon-blue aura, the hedgehog streaked through the air, leaving behind a trail of sparkling blue light. He effortlessly destroyed each missile in perfect succession, and the resulting explosions lit up the sky like a gigantic fireworks display. Still surging with power, Sonic began to barrel straight for the Egg Carrier itself.

"Aaagh!" Eggman screamed. "He's coming right at us!"

Sonic soared right over the bridge and targeted each of the ship's laser cannons. He smashed through one at supersonic speed, destroying it. He then went on to destroy the other ones as well. The force of the explosions was strong enough to physically rock the ship. Gamma was in a hall on his way to the prison chamber. Amy and Bluebird were locked up in a large prison cell. Big was trying to find Froggy. Knuckles was wandering through a large corridor close to the Egg Carrier's central core reactor. Everyone inside the ship felt the shuddering tremors. Outside, Sonic unrolled himself and sat back in his seat.

"Wow, Sonic! That was amazing!" Tails exclaimed.

"This is the end of the line, you two!" Eggman screamed. "Fire the Eggbeam Cannon!"

The power cannon revealed itself as the nose of the ship opened up.

"Bring it on, Eggman!" Tails yelled. "I'm ready for you this time!"

The cannon began to glow, drawing in energy from the core reactor of the ship. The deadly neon-blue beam blasted its way towards Tails' plane. Tails sharply dodged the death ray by quickly pulling the plane upward. The beam cut clear through the sky, and the cannon was forced to recharge. Seizing this opportunity, Tails counterattacked by unleashing a relentless stream of deadly, armor-piercing rounds straight into the cannon's mouth. This resulted in a massive explosion that damaged most of Eggman's precious ship. With the battle apparently over, Tails proceeded to land on the Egg Carrier itself.

"Let's bring it in for a nice, smooth landing, Tails!" Sonic said.

"Oh no!" Tails screamed. "We'll have to settle for nice and bumpy! I forgot that in this mode, we don't have any wheels!"

The Tornado II dove down to the Egg Carrier's airstrip, but without any landing gear deployed, their touchdown was less than smooth. Sparks flew out from under the Tornado II's metal frame as it skidded to a grinding halt on the asphalt runway.

The duo disembarked the Tornado II. Heavy winds, darkness, thunder, and lightning surrounded the dreaded ship.

"Well," Sonic said while catching his breath, "We made it, Tails. Now let's go rescue Amy!"

Before they could take action, Eggman's voice boomed through the loudspeakers.

"Don't get too comfortable, boys! My Egg Carrier possesses even more power than you realize!"

"Blah, blah, blah," Sonic jeered. "Are you seriously just gonna sit around and brag about your vessel all day?"

Without saying another word, Eggman initiated a volley of missiles, which blasted straight up into the sky. They all turned themselves back down towards Sonic, who wove across the deck of the ship in a serpentine fashion. He was easily able to dodge the storm of rockets, and the missiles crashed into the surface of the deck, exploding on impact. Eggman could do nothing but watch as his precious and beloved Egg Carrier sustained more damage, largely on his own part. Grabbing Tails, Sonic ran into the halls of the Egg Carrier and set off to find Amy.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Meanwhile, Gamma walked down a hall, following the evil doctor's orders. Eventually, he reached a trio of large doors at the end of the hallway. Confused, the robot couldn't decide which door to enter through.

He took a chance and tried the door on the left. He came across a sight that was not pretty. The room was dark, but he could see clearly. He stumbled upon a large pile of black and silver robot parts, belonging to a rather familiar robot. To his silent horror, he saw his brother, Beta, on a raised platform in the center of the room. The robot was hooked up to a large and torturous-looking machine. Drills, welding devices, and several other tools connected to large metal arms were working on the robot, outfitting Beta with newer, more advanced parts. He looked completely different than he used to be. Gamma stared at him for a few minutes, only saying his name once. "Beta?"

Gamma then backed out of the room, leaving it undisturbed. He chose not to dwell on this experience, and just carry on with Eggman's orders. He then tried the door on the right, and to his luck, it led him into the prison hall, where Amy and Bluebird could be seen in a large cell. The noise from the battle above scared Bluebird, and Amy held him close, and it was all she could do to console him.

"Don't worry, Bluebird," Amy said in a comforting tone. "Sonic will rescue us sometime. Everything will be okay. He has always been there for me, and he's never let me down before."

At that moment, Gamma walked up to her cell and stuck his missile launcher through the bars. He faced Amy, who was not happy to see him. "What do you want?" she angrily snapped.

"Give me the little bird," Gamma commanded.

"No way!" Amy fiercely objected.

"You must," Gamma calmly replied. "The doctor commands it."

Once again, Amy refused, especially since this order came from Eggman, the one person she hated with all of her heart. Her strongly protective instincts over Bluebird were puzzling to Gamma.

"No... not possible. Illogical. You have feelings for something you know nothing about," Gamma said.

Amy could sense the confusion behind Gamma's words. She had a feeling that Gamma was different from Eggman's other, mindless robots. She tried to talk him into changing his desire for everyone's well-being.

"I can tell that you're different. Any other robot would have just snatched Bluebird out of my hands, but you... Could you just let us out of here, please? I would be so grateful if you could."

The robot was taken aback by Amy's request. "Against regulations. Must obey Doctor."

Amy firmly stood her ground and didn't back down. "I see that you have a heart under that metal frame of yours. You do not belong with Eggman. If you let us out, you can help us take him down."

The robot was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. He wasn't sure whether or not to help Amy, the only being who showed him kindness, but doing so would go directly against Eggman's orders, putting Gamma at risk of dismantlement.

Seeing the turmoil within Gamma, Bluebird fluttered out of Amy's hands and flew straight at Gamma's face. The robot stared into the bird's big brown eyes, and memories of his brothers' cruel demise flashed in his mind. He couldn't take it anymore.

"System overload! System overload!" Gamma cried, clutching his head.

"What's wrong?" Amy worried.

"Go!" Gamma said. He aimed his missile launcher at the lock on the door to Amy's cell, blasting the door open. "It is too dangerous here! Leave now!"

Amy stepped out of her cell and turned towards Gamma.

"You really aren't like any of Eggman's other robots. Maybe we can become friends. Thank you. We'll never forget you," Amy warmly and gratefully thanked him before turning away and fleeing from the prison hall.

Gamma didn't move an inch. He wondered if he had really done the right thing, and he feared what Eggman would do if he found out. In that instant, the mysterious red light appeared in front of Gamma.

"A robot with a warm heart," it said. "I shall present you with this gift. Use it well."

With a glowing light, Gamma's missile launcher turned into a multi-barreled missile blaster that seemed to resemble a Gatling gun. Gamma didn't seem too excited about his new advanced weapon, and he just watched as the red light vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird entered the cavernous main hall of the Egg Carrier after escaping from the prison hall. They saw the exit to the main deck at the far end of the hall.

"I think that's the way out," she told Bluebird, who happily chirped in response.

They started to head for the exit, but the mysterious light suddenly appeared and engulfed them both in a blinding flash.

Once the light cleared, they found themselves in the Mystic Ruins from thousands of years ago, like the others have before. They were standing in front of the Master Emerald shrine.

"What is this place?" Amy wondered.

They soon spotted Tikal standing just outside the shrine, near the large pool of water that surrounded the shrine.

"Who's that?" Amy asked. "She looks similar to Knuckles!"

Tikal approached a group of Chao who were playing together.

"So you're... the Chao," Tikal said.

Nervous, the Chao slowly backed away from the echidna. They feared she would harm them.

"No, don't worry, I won't hurt you," she said, trying to reassure them. Her feelings were slightly hurt.

Tikal's eyes showed a degree of sadness. She didn't have any friends, and she felt like an outcast in this highly experienced clan. One of the Chao seemed to sense this and he slowly advanced towards Tikal, patting her on the leg.

Tikal thanked the little Chao and held him close to her. Seeing that Tikal was completely harmless, he then waved to the others to come over.

"Does this mean that we can all be friends?" Tikal warmly asked the group of Chao.

In response, one Chao grabbed her hand, trying to drag Tikal towards the temple. The female echidna stood up and followed the group, coming to a stop in front of the shallow pool of water. The Chao began to sing, and the water in the pool resonated with each note. Tikal and the group of Chao observed the water, and then something began to rise up from it. Tikal gasped and backed away as a watery creature emerged from the pool.

Before Amy could make out exactly what it was, the bright light came down on her and she was returned to the Egg Carrier's main hall. She then noticed that there was a red-and-white feathered ornament in her hair. Before Amy could question what it was, the red light flew down and began to explain.

"This is the Warrior Feather," it told Amy. "It will endorse you with the strength and courage you need to overcome any foe that gets in your way!" The light then rapidly circled around Amy and vanished.

Suddenly, a series of explosions were heard, followed by a strong vibration of the ship. This was Amy and Bluebird's cue to hurry. Quickly, she ran for the exit and appeared outside, on the main deck of the Egg Carrier.

Suddenly, Decoe and Bocoe appeared, towering over Amy. They began to extend their hands.

"Gotcha!" they triumphantly said. Suddenly, Amy whipped out her signature weapon, her red-and-gold Piko-Piko Hammer. This surprised the two robots and they slowly began to back away.

Things were about to get worse. She felt a tug on her hammer, and she turned to find Eggman standing behind her.

"Where do you think you're going, Amy?" Eggman cackled.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught everyone's eyes. Sonic and Tails showed up heroically in the sky. Tails was flying while holding Sonic's hands. He then released Sonic, who dropped down onto the floor in front of Amy.

"You did come," Amy cried, her eyes welling up with tears of happiness. "Get out of my way!" She summoned all of her strength, yanking her hammer out of Eggman's hands and swung it right at him, knocking the evil doctor down to the floor.

"Sorry, Eggman, your party is over," Sonic said.

Eggman got back onto his feet. "Actually, Sonic, the party has just begun."

Decoe's chest opened up and a long robotic arm appeared, snatching Bluebird out of Amy's grasp in the blink of an eye.

"No, Bluebird!" Amy cried.

"Give him back to Amy right now!" Sonic demanded.

"Boys, keep your eyes on the little bird!" Eggman told his henchbots.

"Yes, Doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe said at the same time.

Eggman then grabbed the bird out of Decoe's grip. As the bird struggled to free himself, the doctor grabbed his locket and flipped it open. To everyone's surprise, a cyan-blue chaos emerald popped out.

"Look!" Tails exclaimed in surprise. "It's a chaos emerald!"

"Lucky me," Eggman laughed. He then showed a little bit of mercy and released Bluebird, who flew back to Amy. That moment was short-lived, however.

"Gamma," Eggman called into a small microphone. "Report to the main deck immediately!"

Gamma was still in the prison hall, and he hadn't moved an inch since his encounter with Amy and Bluebird. Reluctantly, he complied with his master's orders and made his way out onto the main deck, revealing himself to the entire group.

"What is your wish, Doctor Eggman?" Gamma asked.

"It's you!" Amy exclaimed in surprise.

"I have a new and very easy assignment for you," Eggman said to his minion. "I'll give you a chance to have some fun with more target practice. See this little blue hedgehog?" Eggman pointed to Sonic. "Eradicate him at once."

"Yes, Doctor," Gamma complied.

"No! Don't!" Amy cried.

Promptly, Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe jumped into the Eggmobile and fled the scene, leaving the heroes to face Gamma.

"Give it all you got. I love having fun with robots," Sonic said.

Gamma walked over to Sonic, who was dwarfed by the robot's tall stature. They turned to face each other. Sonic was completely unaware of Gamma's friendliness towards Amy.

"Please, stop!" Amy begged, rushing in between them. "It's Eggman that's making him act this way! He's really nice, Sonic!"

Gamma didn't heed Amy's words this time. He pointed his new missile blaster at Sonic and fired three small missiles, but the blue hedgehog simply jumped high into the air. The missiles crashed into the deck, blasting a large hole into it. Gamma then activated his jet pack and blasted into the air, following Sonic. The hedgehog dropped down, landing on the surface of the deck. Gamma stayed airborne, and tried to lock onto Sonic with his targeting laser. The speedy hedgehog effortlessly avoided his sights.

"Too slow!" Sonic boasted.

Gamma released several missiles that were all aimed at the surface. He did this hoping that one of them would hit Sonic. The missiles crashed into the deck, destroying everything they landed on. Tails quickly ducked Amy and Bluebird to the ground as the missiles exploded all around them. From Gamma's vantage point, Sonic couldn't be seen anywhere in the cloud of smoke. The robot waited for the smoke to clear away, but Sonic quickly emerged, flying out of the smoke in a rolling spin.

"You're going down, robot!" Sonic declared. The hedgehog landed on a narrow ledge, and flew straight at Gamma, striking him in the back. The robot was knocked out of the sky and he landed on the ground with a loud, metallic clang.

Sonic landed on the ground, and he saw Gamma's damaged body try to pick itself up off the floor. The hedgehog then began to run towards Gamma for the final death blow, but the unexpected happened. Amy darted in between Gamma and Sonic, refusing to move. Sonic was forced to skid to a stop.

"Leave him alone, Sonic," Amy ordered with a stern look on her face.

"This doesn't concern you, Amy," Sonic told her. "He's an Eggman robot. Stay out of my way!"

"You can't hurt him!" Amy cried. "This robot's different. He set us free!"

Sonic looked into Amy's eyes, seeing the seriousness that was in them. He then smiled and said, "Ok, Amy, if you say so. A friend of yours is a friend of mine."

Amy smiled at Sonic, and tensions diminished for a moment. Suddenly, the Egg Carrier began to violently quake.

"Guys, the Egg Carrier!" Tails screamed. "I have a feeling we're beginning to lose altitude!"

Sure enough, the Egg Carrier was slowly but steadily falling through the clouds, due to the heavy damage that the ship sustained from the battles. The time for fun and games was over.

"We're losing time," Sonic said. "Tails, get Amy and Bluebird off the ship now!"

"But what about you, Sonic?" Amy worried.

"Don't you worry, Amy," Sonic reassured her. "I'll find Eggman and finish him off once and for all."

Tails was worried about such a sudden and drastic course of action. "But, Sonic..." he began to object.

"No time for arguing, Tails. I'm counting on you to keep Amy and Bluebird safe," he told Tails. "You're my right-hand man. I trust you."

"Mr. Robot?" Amy worried, kneeling next to Gamma. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"Get moving, Tails!" Sonic yelled. "I'm off to settle the score with Eggman!" With that, Sonic zoomed off to look for Eggman.

"He's really hurt," Amy told Tails.

"We don't have much time!" Tails told Amy.

Gamma quickly healed from his injuries and woke up.

"Hey," Amy said excitedly. "You're alive!"

Gamma was befuddled by Amy's concern for him. "Why are you helping me?"

"I told you earlier that we can become friends," Amy replied.

Tails then called Amy over, and he took Amy's hand and flew up into the sky. Hovering above the Egg Carrier, Amy turned back to her new robotic friend with some final words of wisdom.

"Remember, you are free from Eggman now! Live your life however you want to. Goodbye, Mr. Robot! I won't forget you!"

After those last few words, Tails and Amy flew further and further into the sky and eventually vanished from sight.

Gamma looked in the direction they were flying and said, "Bye... friend." With that, Gamma started his jet booster and took off in the opposite direction.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Meanwhile, Big was wandering through the corridors of the Egg Carrier, looking for Froggy.

"Froggy!" Big called out. "Where are you?"

The corridor then violently shook, causing Big to fall flat on his furry white belly. He picked himself up and walked through a narrow hallway.

Suddenly, Big's large ears perked up as he heard little croaking sounds.

"Froggy?" Big wondered. "Is that you I hear?"

He followed the sounds to a large steel door with Eggman's insignia on it. He pushed a button, causing the doors to slide open, revealing a large, circular storage room.

"Are you in here, Froggy?" Big asked as he looked around the massive room.

Rrrriiibbiit, he heard. Looking upward, he found his beloved pet frog in a large tank of water perched high above a large shelf.

"I found you!" Big hollered. He began to climb up the shelf, but his weight tipped the shelf over, causing Big to fall flat on his back. The shelf hit the floor with a loud crash and the tank fell towards the ground. Big quickly lunged at the tank, catching it and Froggy just before it would have smashed into the floor.

With his heart pounding like a jackhammer, Big lifted the lid off the tank and Froggy jumped straight into his arms. "I got you, Froggy," Big smiled as he tightly hugged his pet amphibian. Froggy seemed to be back to his old self, and he was equally as happy to see Big again.

"We're together again at last!" Big whooped. Froggy croaked loudly in response. As they celebrated their reunion, the mysterious red light swooped down and flew straight at Big, who was lost in a dazzling white light.

Once the light faded away, he found himself facing the Master Emerald shrine from more than 4000 years into the past. He noticed that Froggy wasn't in his arms anymore.

"Froggy!" Big called out, beginning to panic slightly. "Where are you? Maybe he's in that pool over there," he concluded, noticing the large pool that surrounded the magnificent shrine.

He made his way over to the shrine, but instead of seeing Froggy, he saw Tikal. She was standing before the shrine, and the water in the pool seemed to softly resonate in her presence.

"Is... is it alright for me to be here?" Tikal asked the entity. The water began to ripple, seemingly responding to her question. Tikal was able to read its thoughts.

"So... you're saying that you trust me?" Tikal asked. "Thank you."

She was welcomed, and she respectfully began to walk up the steps to the top of the shrine. While making her way there, she observed the seven chaos emeralds gleaming atop the stone poles surrounding the shrine. "So these are the seven chaos emeralds," she said.

She eventually reached the top of the shrine, followed by Big from a distance. She took in the sight of the glowing Master Emerald sitting on top of the altar, which emanated a soft green light.

"It's so beautiful," she beheld. The Master Emerald flashed briefly, as if it was thanking her.

Something suddenly dawned on Tikal and she looked at the seven chaos emeralds, and then turned back to the Master Emerald.

"The servers are... the seven chaos emeralds," Tikal began, "Unified by one that is the controller." From this, she drew upon an astonishing conclusion.

"So... are you the one that controls the seven Chaos?" Tikal asked the Master Emerald.

Before she was about to get an answer, a bright light showered down on Big and he was transported back to the Egg Carrier, with Froggy safely in his arms. However, he wasn't in a very safe location. He was standing outside on one of the ship's decks, consisting of a giant, green circular platform. Underneath the platform's thick glass floor were a series of spinning mechanisms. Big had no idea how he got here, but at least Froggy was back with him.

"Froggy?" Big wondered. He then saw the Tornado II lying on the airstrip exactly where Tails had left it. "I must have been dreaming. We need to get outta here!"

He started to run towards the plane, but a large object dropped down from the sky and landed in front of him. Big was slow to react and he crashed into the object, falling flat on his back, dropping Froggy in the process. The large cat began to pick himself up, and he rubbed his eyes. Stricken with terror, he found himself looking straight up into Chaos 4's menacing green eyes. As if that didn't present enough problems, Eggman flew down beside the monster in his Eggmobile.

Meanwhile, Knuckles had been really busy since the Egg Carrier last took off, relentlessly searching for the final Master Emerald piece. Despite all of the action, mayhem, and destruction taking place around him, the echidna was too focused to notice any of the commotion.

Knuckles wandered through a large corridor deep in the hull of the massive flying fortress. This was the core chamber for the entire Egg Carrier, a massive space that was filled to the brim with computers, switches, and all sorts of high-tech machinery. In the center, an enormous generator hummed away, powered by a red energy core, filling up the whole area in a soft red glow. Knuckles then saw a glimmering green light revolving around the generator like a satellite.

"The final piece of the Master Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed with joy. He jumped on top of the generator, and he grabbed the last piece of the precious jewel. He closed his eyes, focusing intensely on something. The Master Emerald piece then shrank down to the size of a small stone.

"At last," Knuckles smiled. "My quest is complete."

Just as he put the piece into his brown sack, the mysterious red light hovered above Knuckles. It floated down towards the exit, and Knuckles concluded that the light was showing him the way out.

Meanwhile, Big and Froggy were staring straight into the eyes of Eggman and Chaos 4.

"My my, we have escapees at every corner," Eggman snickered.

Chaos 4's emotionless eyes stared right back at the helpless duo, but his eyes were more focused on Froggy than Big.

"Yes, Chaos," Eggman noticed. "I see that little frog has something you want, right?"

Eggman dug out the cyan emerald that he acquired from Bluebird, and this set off a strange reaction in Froggy. His body began to glow yellow in the presence of the jewel, and his mouth was forced open. The yellow emerald that Froggy swallowed a while ago was regurgitated from his body. Eggman then threw both emeralds at Chaos 4 like a baseball pitcher. The watery monster absorbed the emeralds, and a bright light enveloped Chaos as he underwent another transformation. However, once the light cleared, they saw that this transformation was unlike any other before it. Chaos was no longer even vaguely humanoid. Instead, he emerged as a 25-foot insectoid monster made up of several different creatures. He had the body of a frog, six insect-like legs, and eight spider-like eyes. He also had a pair of jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth, and his brain grew to the size of a small boulder. He had two chaos emeralds in his hind legs, and the other four were positioned in a row near his brain. Now called Chaos 6, the enormous monster cried out a terrifying roar.

"Chaos," Eggman reminded, "Don't forget about your tail!"

Chaos 6's spindly legs began to turn his new bulky body around towards Froggy. Glaring at the poor frog, Chaos 6 opened up his massive jaws. With vacuum-like force, Chaos 6 inhaled Froggy, swallowing the amphibian as if he was a pill.

"No, Froggy!" Big cried.

The poor amphibian helplessly floated around inside Chaos 6's watery body. Froggy's tail then disappeared and Chaos 6 grew a tail of his own, which was a long, scorpion-like appendage. Eggman began to laugh maniacally. "So, cat, how do you like my new and improved Chaos? I still have one more emerald to find, but you'll never get your little frog friend back, even though Chaos isn't perfected yet! Hahahahaha!"

Eggman's joy didn't last, however, because Sonic smashed through the windows of the Egg Carrier's bridge. He landed on the platform where Big and Chaos 6 stood on. It had been quite a while since Sonic had last seen Chaos, so he was shocked to see the newly empowered Chaos 6.

"Holy cow!" Sonic exclaimed. "Someone's been going on a fattening diet here!"

"Help me save Froggy!" Big implored.

"So, he's your friend, is he?" Sonic asked, noticing Froggy floating around inside the monster. "Don't worry, I'll go save him."

Sonic spin-rolled straight at Chaos 6 at breakneck speed, but surprisingly, he just bounced right off of the monster.

"What? No way!" Sonic cried.

"Hahaha! Nice try, hedgehog!" Eggman laughed. "You'll never win against him now, Sonic. Don't even think about saving that little amphibian."

At this point in Sonic's and Chaos' history together, Chaos 6 had come to hate Sonic as much as Eggman. Without warning, Chaos 6 sprouted long tentacles from his body, flinging them at Sonic. The hedgehog dodged the first one, but the second one painfully smacked him down to the ground.

Meanwhile, back in the belly of the Egg Carrier, the mysterious red light trailed in front of Knuckles, guiding him down the hallways which were now shifting and tilting back and forth.

"The ship is rocking back and forth," Knuckles said. "I hope I'll make it out of here alive!"

Suddenly, the red light stopped and hovered right in front of his face. Knuckles had a feeling of what was going to happen, and he was right. Lost in a blinding white light, he found himself being transported back to the ancient Master Emerald shrine. However, this experience was going to be different than any before it.

The twinkling, starlit night sky looked quite beautiful, but below it was nothing but destruction. The grounds, once beautiful and sacred, had been attacked, and everything from the grass to the trees, and even the shrine itself, was up in scorching flames.

"No... it can't be! What's happening?" Knuckles wondered, filled with terror. He couldn't believe he was witnessing such a grisly sight.

He then saw Tikal lying on the ground, injured. He rushed to her aid.

"Are you okay?" he asked the female echidna as she slowly opened up her blue eyes, which were filled with glistening tears.

"I couldn't stop them," she sobbed. "They came, and... my father and the others, they didn't listen to me! I don't... know what to... do." Tikal then broke down and tears were streaming down her face. Knuckles could do nothing to console her.

Far away, a terrifying, reptilian sea monster screamed out a shrill, piercing roar, and its echo was powerful enough to be heard from the burning shrine. As Knuckles wondered what it was, Tikal rose to her feet and began to run towards the Master Emerald.

"Wait!" Knuckles shouted. "Come back!"

Before he could run after Tikal, the light shone down on Knuckles and he was transported back to the shifting hallways of the Egg Carrier. This was one terrifying experience that he could never forget.

"What a horrifying experience," Knuckles said. "There has to be some sort of reason why I'm being shown these things. The shrine, the Master Emerald, the girl, and Chaos..."

While Knuckles was trying to make sense of everything that he saw from that vision, the ship violently quaked, nearly causing Knuckles to fall onto the floor. "I've wasted enough time," he said. "I have to get out of here, quickly!"

Back on the green platform, Sonic and Chaos 6 continued fighting. Chaos 6 vaulted high into the air using his long, grasshopper-like hind legs. He landed with an almighty crash, sending out a purple shock wave that radiated in all directions, causing Sonic and Big to be knocked backwards onto the floor. Sonic picked himself up and smiled.

"I'm not through with you yet, Chaos," Sonic bragged.

Big got back onto his feet, watching Froggy continuing to float helplessly in the monster's body. Big had enough of this.

"Every single time I come close to catching Froggy," Big declared, "Something always yanks us apart. Well, I ain't gonna let that happen no more."

Deploying his Power Rod, he summoned up all of his strength and cast his line into Chaos 6's body. Seeing the lure, Froggy quickly swam over to it and bit onto the bait, and Big began to pull as hard as he could to get Froggy out of the monster's body.

Like what happens when you throw a stone at a large animal, Chaos 6 merely shifted his gaze over to Big instead. The cat didn't move in the face of danger, so Sonic was forced to intervene on his behalf. Jumping in front of Big, Sonic began to push back against Chaos 6.

"Hurry!" Sonic shouted.

Seeing how the hedgehog was protecting him, Big continued to pull with all of his strength. Suddenly, Froggy was launched out of Chaos 6's body. He flew through the air and landed safely in Big's arms.

"Froggy! You're safe!" Big rejoiced.

Rrrriibbiiittt, Froggy croaked with happiness and joy.

Suddenly, Chaos 6 swung another deadly tentacle at Sonic, who effortlessly jumped out of its way.

"I'm glad that you got your friend back," Sonic said to Big. "Now hurry and get out of here before you or your pet gets hurt!"

After thanking Sonic, Big ran towards the Tornado II. He tried to climb inside, but he was too big to fit into either one of the seats. Big placed Froggy in the front seat and the feline jumped on top of the plane.

"Sure is neat, hey, Froggy?" Big said.

Ribbit, Froggy replied.

Big was looking at all of the buttons and switches. He was confused by the complex controls, and he just pushed a random sequence of buttons, which just so happened to start the Tornado II's jet engine. The plane skidded across the airstrip towards the end of the Egg Carrier. Big and Froggy held on tight as the plane careened off the ship and spun wildly into the sky.

"Aaaaaahhh!" Big screamed, followed by a series of loud, panicked croaks from Froggy. The plane began to spiral down into the clouds, where it eventually disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile, Sonic was nearly exhausted from the battle while Chaos 6 didn't even let up slightly.

"I didn't even do a single number on him yet," Sonic groaned. "He's definitely become a lot stronger since our last encounter."

"Are you feeling tired, Sonic?" Eggman taunted. "Why don't you cool off for a while?" He brandished a small egg-shaped ice grenade and threw it at Sonic. The hedgehog effortlessly jumped out of the way as the grenade harmlessly landed and bounced on the glass floor.

"What was that?!" Sonic howled in laughter.

"Doesn't matter," Eggman shrugged it off. "You won't be able to do anything against my new pet. Now, Chaos, let's whip that hedgehog into shape, and get him warmed up again!"

Chaos 6 swung a tentacle straight down towards Sonic, who jumped high into the air just as the tentacle landed, shattering the glass floor. Still in the air, Sonic charged up his Light Speed Attack and struck Chaos 6 multiple times. The monster didn't show the slightest sign of harm.

"No way!" Sonic kicked himself. "That was my best attack!"

"You'll never win, Sonic." Eggman growled. "Game over, hedgehog."

Chaos 6 then sprouted three more long tentacles and brought them down towards Sonic. The hedgehog jumped over the first and somersaulted under the second, but the third one caught him from behind and pinned him down to the floor. Sonic was too weak to lift himself up.

"Yes! Go, Chaos! Destroy him already!" Eggman whooped.

Chaos 6 raised his scorpion-like tail, ready to deliver the final death blow that would end Sonic's life forever. His tail had become greatly enlarged, and the tip of the tail began to glow bright-orange, hanging high above Sonic's pinned body like a guillotine.

"I'm done for!" Sonic cried.

"I've been waiting for this moment for many years, and it has finally come!" Eggman's heart raced with excitement. "Chaos, kill that hedgehog now!"

Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, prepared for the end. Chaos 6 brought his tail down on Sonic with full force. Just a fraction of a second before Sonic's life would have ended, Knuckles suddenly dashed in from out of nowhere and completely severed Chaos 6's tail with a quick and powerful punch. Screaming in pain, Chaos 6 recoiled, losing his grip on Sonic. The heroic hedgehog quickly shot back up.

"Knuckles!" Sonic and Eggman exclaimed in surprise.

"Here I am, saving you yet another time," Knuckles said.

"You have to be careful this time, Knuckles," Sonic cautioned. "It doesn't seem like anything can penetrate the watery hide of that overgrown jellyfish."

"I'll give you a hint," Knuckles grinned as he held up his fist.

"Oh, Shovel Claw, huh?" Sonic said in a slightly underwhelmed tone.

"You have a problem with that?" Knuckles asked. "They might act differently. Watch this."

Knuckles swung a Shovel Claw at Chaos 6, but it barely scratched him. Sonic then noticed Eggman's ice grenade, still lying on the floor.

Chaos 6 opened his mouth and began to inhale in an attempt to absorb the blue and red duo.

"He's trying to suck us in!" Knuckles exclaimed. He dashed to a railing and held on with all of his might, and Sonic grabbed his leg and held on too.

"Don't give up, Knuckles," Sonic encouraged him.

With the grenade tightly clutched in Sonic's hand, he pressed a little switch and threw it as hard as he could into Chaos 6's mouth. Seconds later, the grenade went off, blasting the monster with freezing energy that was way below zero. The enormous monster screamed loudly as his entire body began to solidify. In just a few seconds, Chaos 6 was completely frozen in solid ice, his body standing there like a gigantic ice sculpture.

"Okay, Knuckles, knock yourself out!" Sonic grinned.

"My pleasure!" Knuckles smiled.

With a swift swipe of a Shovel Claw, the monster's solid body was completely shattered, littering the floor with thousands of sparkling ice shards. The six chaos emeralds were amidst all of the broken ice, and Knuckles quickly scooped them up. Sonic turned his head and saw Eggman with Decoe and Bocoe. The trio were trying to escape from the ship in Eggman's Eggmobile.

"Where do you think you're going, Doc?" Sonic angrily asked him. He sprinted up to the Eggmobile and latched himself tightly onto its wing. The evil doctor tried to shake him off, but to no avail. They were still wrestling with each other even when the Eggmobile dropped off the edge of the ship and zoomed out of sight.

"I'd better get off of this thing myself," Knuckles said. He ran to the edge of the ship and jumped off, gliding through the sky.

It was a good thing that everyone escaped at this time, because several more explosions rocked and blasted around the ship. Massive fireballs blasted their way through the many corridors of the Egg Carrier, destroying everything in their path. The once mighty vessel fell through the clouds and crashed into the ocean, causing an enormous tidal wave to radiate from all sides of the crippled ship.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Following the Egg Carrier's demise, the ominous black thunderclouds that filled the sky began to disperse. Knuckles finally landed on Angel Island and faced the shrine that he called home for as long as he could remember. With his mission finally completed, there was only one thing left to do. With his heart racing, the proud warrior marched up the stone steps towards the altar, where the incomplete Master Emerald rotated in its place. Rummaging through his brown sack, Knuckles extracted the final piece of the Master Emerald and held it up to the giant gem. The shard grew back to its original size and slowly levitated out of the echidna's hand. With a brilliant flash, the shard merged with the rest of the Master Emerald, which was now fully restored.

"I knew I could do it," Knuckles exclaimed in a very satisfied tone. "The Master Emerald, as well as Angel Island, have been fully restored."

He then felt a strong rumble from under him, and the whole island shook. Miraculously, the island began to lift itself off of the ocean's surface. It slowly began to rise, higher and higher, back to its original home in the clouds. Knuckles breathed a sigh of relief and stood in front of the Master Emerald, guarding it just as he has always done before this whole crisis began.

"I will probably be living here for the rest of my life," Knuckles said, "always guarding the Master Emerald. But you know what? I'm perfectly happy doing this. I may not know the whole story surrounding this or even why I've always been doing this, but I finally feel at peace, and that's all that really matters."

The sun was beginning to set over Station Square in a beautiful orange radiance. Tails had already dropped Amy and Bluebird off at Amy's apartment, and he was now anxiously hoping that Sonic escaped the Egg Carrier safely.

He looked into the setting sun. "I hope Sonic's okay," he worried. His gaze then shifted to an object that was flying around in the sky some distance away.

"Could that be Eggman?" Tails wondered. "What is he doing up there?"

After suffering another defeat, Eggman quietly hovered above the city in his Eggmobile.

"Why, oh why?" Eggman grieved, with tears forming in his eyes. "Chaos has been destroyed and now my precious Egg Carrier is gone."

His expression then changed from sadness to complete fury. "I will make everyone pay for this!" Eggman screamed. "They've all been supporting Sonic, so they should get a taste of their own medicine!"

The Eggmobile then turned around and faced the glistening ocean. The setting sun reflected off of the surface of the water. Eggman whipped out a tiny remote and pressed a big red button on it.

Suddenly, something stirred out in the ocean. The calm ripples turned to bubbles, and then to waves as something big rose from the depths. A crowd formed around the ocean to see what was going on as a cylindrical object revealed itself.

The white, cylindrical object bore Eggman's red insignia on the side, clearly seen by every person.

"What the heck is that?" A man shouted.

"It's a missile!" A boy screamed.

"I'm scared, Mommy!" A little girl wept as her mother tried to console her.

Eggman then turned around to the citizens. "So long, Station Square! Nice knowing you all!" Eggman said as he pressed another button which activated the missile's large thrusters.

The missile began to soar up into the sky, and it turned itself over, soaring above their heads. Everyone began to scream in terror as the missile began to fall, heading straight for downtown!

The missile eventually crashed into the side of a tall skyscraper. Everybody fearfully cringed, expecting a massive explosion, but nothing happened. It looked like the missile turned out to be a dud.

"Are we safe?" A young woman asked a group of people. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief, but Tails wasn't so confident that they were safe.

Eggman then flew over to the failed missile in his Eggmobile.

"I'm sorry to rain on your happy parade, but I have to tell you right now to enjoy your final moments. In exactly five minutes, your slum of a city is about to be wiped out and blown to bits!" Laughing maniacally, Eggman flew off and disappeared, leaving the citizens to really start panicking. A digital timer appeared on the missile and it began the countdown.

"We're done for!" A teenaged boy cried.

Everyone then turned their heads to Tails, who was still in the crowd.

"Tails, you're our only hope! You have to help us!" A middle-aged man pleaded.

"I don't know what I can do," Tails began to panic. He had never been in a situation like this all by himself. "I wish Sonic was here," he said to himself. "He'd go out and take care of it without any problems. It seems like the fate of Station Square depends on me."

The timer continued to tick, and time was quickly running out. Tails knew that something had to be done. The young fox was succumbed to extreme pressure, with the fate of the entire city and all of its inhabitants resting on his shoulders. He made a fist and took charge.

"Ok, guys. I'll give it my best shot! Here goes," Tails proclaimed as he began to fly up into the air. Everyone began to cheer on him.

"Go, Tails! Go, Tails!" The entire city shouted out for him.

Tails quickly reached the missile, which was deeply lodged into the side of the skyscraper. He opened up the control panel, revealing several multicolored wires.

"If I could only figure out which is the right wire," Tails said, taking out a pair of wire cutters. "If I cut the wrong one, this missile will detonate." He then looked at the digital timer, which currently said "1:43."

"I don't have much time," Tails said. He then carefully examined the wires. "Now let's see, it can't be this blue wire here... This red one looks like it leads to a major component, since there's a large circular thing at the end. Maybe it is that one."

Tails finally made up his mind and cut the large red wire. Instantly, the timer stopped with just fifteen seconds left, and the missile was permanently shut down.

"I did it!" Tails joyfully cried.

"YAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!" The whole city cheered.

"Thank you, everyone," Tails beamed at the crowd, wiping his forehead. Cameras flashed and the news reporters were there, wanting to capture the whole event on live television.

Unfortunately, the party was about to be crashed. Unbeknownst to everyone, Eggman had never actually left the scene. From a safe distance, he was watching the whole event take place with his very own eyes.

Suddenly, another object rose up out of the ocean. The Eggmobile flew over to it and latched itself securely on top of the mysterious object. A series of thrusters activated and it flew over the city, crashing down right in front of Tails. This contraption was supported by four large, robotic, spider-like legs. A flamethrower was mounted on its right arm and its left arm ended with a missile launcher. Eggman was clearly seen riding on top of the machine, which he named the Egg Walker. He glared down at Tails, boiling with a hatred that could only previously be invoked by Sonic.

"Tails, I must applaud you," Eggman began, "for combatting my precious Egg Carrier and single-handedly saving the city from imminent annihilation. However, you have caused me to feel as much hate for you as I do for a certain blue hedgehog. Say your prayers, little one. I want this city to be at MY mercy, so the first thing I want to do is to get you out of my sight."

Tails was obviously afraid, but he couldn't back down, since he had just saved Station Square. "I must do this to the end," he said, making a fist. "I'm not scared. This is what Sonic would do, so if he can do it, I can do it as well."

Eggman began to laugh. "Oh, we'll see about that. You can't outfox me."

With that, the Egg Walker began to march straight for Tails, but the fox quietly slipped underneath the assault machine as it stomped right over him. The Egg Walker turned itself around and shot a merciless stream of fire from its deadly flamethrower. Tails managed to leap out of the way just as the flames hit the ground, scorching the asphalt road, leaving behind a smoking, smoldering black spot.

Eggman was not about to give up. "You've already stopped one missile," Eggman taunted, "so let's see if you can stop this one!" The Egg Walker's missile launcher expelled a small but heavy missile that barreled straight at the young fox. Yelping, he jumped up and flew high into the air just as the missile hit the ground in a fiery blast. Several cars were set aflame and any buildings that were within the blast radius were heavily damaged. With another missile, the Egg Walker targeted a large school bus, obliterating it to smithereens.

Tails wondered what he could do to stop the evil doctor's relentless rampage. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. The fox quickly dashed into a hardware store. There weren't too many customers inside the store, but they all heard the thumping footsteps of the Egg Walker marching closer and closer. Everyone, including the manager, screamed and sprinted out of the store's back door, leaving Tails alone in the store. Tails ran towards an aisle that said "Hand Tools". He flew up to a tall shelf and grabbed a large wrench. He made it to the entrance of the store just as the Egg Walker stomped hard on the ground, causing a seismic shock wave that brought the store crumbling down to the ground. He still thought Tails was inside.

"Aha!" Eggman gave a victory cry. "I bet that stupid little friend of Sonic finally met his demise. He didn't even stand a chance. Game over, Tails."

With his only obstacle seemingly gone, Eggman then turned his attention to the helpless citizens of Station Square. Just as he was about to fire up his flamethrower, he heard a voice from high above. Tails was diving down at the Egg Walker with his wrench held downward. With all of his strength, he jammed the large wrench into the Eggmobile's control panel, severely damaging the hovercraft's computer.

"What have you done?!" Eggman screamed and shook a fist at Tails. Sparks began to erupt from the crippled control panel. Tails then faced Eggman and said, "That was for Sonic!" He then turned around and said, "And this is for the city of Station Square!" He slapped Eggman in the face with his tails. As the evil doctor clutched his face, screaming in pain, Tails jumped back down onto the ground just as the Egg Walker started to completely malfunction. Parts of it were bursting into flames, and the Eggmobile detached itself just before the entire machine was consumed by fire. Humiliated, Eggman began to fly away while trying to repair his Eggmobile.

Everyone began to cheer like never before, roaring with delight and erupting in thunderous applause. Tails had single-handedly saved the city twice and defeated Eggman all by himself.

Tails finally became aware of the potential he had. He was no longer the little kid that always followed Sonic. He was now able to stand on his own two feet.

"I really did it!" Tails exclaimed in both excitement and astonishment. "I have to go and find Sonic and make sure he's okay." Before leaving, he thanked everyone for supporting him and he began to soar up into the sky. The citizens of Station Square continued to cheer for the young fox as he flew off into the horizon.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

In Mystic Ruins, Sonic's body was partially burrowed into the ground due to the sheer force and speed of his fall, and only his feet were sticking out. He frantically tried to run, and his feet were spinning around like a very fast helicopter rotor. Eventually, he pulled his arms out of the ground and tried to push the rest of his body upwards. After much grunting, pushing, and pulling, Sonic was finally able to free his head from the ground. He sat beside the narrow hole that he just pulled himself out of and scratched his head.

"Boy, talk about a headache," Sonic groaned. "That's the last time I hitch a ride with Eggman."

Sonic then looked around the forest, hoping to see if Eggman fell somewhere nearby. To Sonic's avail, he found no trace of his nemesis.

"That rotten egg got away from me yet again," Sonic moaned.

His ears then picked up a series of low rumbling sounds. He figured that this wasn't a natural occurrence and he began to walk in the direction of the sounds, which grew louder and louder as he got closer. His curiosity eventually led him to the massive, ancient temple in the center of Mystic Ruins. The sounds were coming from inside the temple. Before he was about to question the exact source of the sounds, the mysterious red light floated down towards Sonic.

"Well, look who it is," Sonic smiled. He knew by now that the situation was always important whenever this entity crossed his path. The light spun around Sonic and floated towards the entrance of the mysterious temple. Sonic decided to follow the light since he had nothing important to do. Once inside, the light guided him down a twisting path in near pitch-blackness, a different route than the one Eggman traveled down when he first discovered the temple. The shimmering red orb guiding Sonic was the only source of light in this area of the temple, and it filled the whole area with a dim red glow.

Through a narrow stone corridor, the duo went down several flights of stone stairs before entering a large chamber. They traveled across a large stone bridge that was suspended above an enormous lake of water. Sonic was amazed that this old temple held such mysterious surroundings.

After crossing the bridge, the light guided Sonic down a long, narrow tunnel. Despite the fact that the temple was old and withered on the outside, the murals, glyphs, and artifacts contained within the next few smaller chambers were still intact, and they didn't even show the smallest speck of dust.

"I never would have guessed that this temple would be this magnificent on the inside," Sonic said to himself. "This is such an amazing sight."

Even though Sonic was marveling at his surroundings, he began to feel slightly bored, since he wasn't used to simply walking long distances. He would much rather run than walk, but his patience was soon to be paid off. The duo reached a massive serpent-headed statue perched above a large arch. A stream of water steadily flowed out of its open jaws like a miniature waterfall. The light floated right through the waterfall, but Sonic was slightly hesitant, since he hated getting wet. He then steeled himself and walked through the curtain of water. A small group of Chao floated in front of the waterfall, worriedly gazing at Sonic who walked onwards.

The light then led Sonic into the large chamber where Eggman made his discovery. The atmosphere was still, quiet, and the sensation of an unseen presence floated within, just like before. The light led the hedgehog to the end of the walkway in front of a wall, and the mural of the terrifying sea monster was revealed to Sonic.

"That looks freaky," Sonic said. "It looks like a sea monster. Why did the light bring me all the way down here for this?"

A feminine voice answered his question. "When anger and sadness overflow like the mighty ocean," it began, "Beware the great calamity."

Sonic frantically looked around for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. "Is there somebody there?" he asked. "Come on out, I won't hurt you." Suddenly, a bright flash of light came down on Sonic.

When Sonic's vision was restored, his eyes showed him a very grisly sight. He was brought to the burning ruins of the Master Emerald shrine.

"This just keeps getting freakier and freakier," Sonic said.

The still bodies of injured Chao and red-hot flames were all that Sonic could see at first. Amidst the carnage, he saw Tikal kneeling down before the burning shrine, overcome with turmoil.

"It's awful," she sobbed. "How could Father do something so terrible? If he would have heeded my warnings, we could have prevented this." She bent down and carefully picked up an unconscious Chao, holding it close. "I'm so sorry," she mournfully cried as tears streamed down her cheeks. "It's over. I failed."

Sonic remained still and quiet, but he felt terribly sorry for her. She lowered the little Chao down to the ground and started to run towards the Master Emerald shrine.

"I have to stop them!"

Suddenly, the white light came down on Sonic and he found himself standing outside the ancient temple.

"Was that all real?" Sonic wondered. "It felt like a nightmare!"

His thoughts were put to an end as he spotted a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. Eggman was flying above the area in his Eggmobile, returning to home base from his humiliating defeat in Station Square.

"Congratulations, Doc, you came at the right time," Sonic smiled and he began to trail behind the unsuspecting doctor.

Meanwhile, in Station Square, Amy and Bluebird were at Amy's apartment. Amy sat at a table positioned beside a large window, and Bluebird stood in the middle of the table, pecking at a bowl of delicious birdseeds. The pink hedgehog held a cup of hot tea in her hand. With her eyes glued to the window in hopes of catching a glimpse of Sonic, she took a sip of her tea and lowered the cup back down to the table.

With a sigh, she wondered, "Why is it that every single time Sonic and I get together, something always happens to tear us apart?" She took her gaze away from the window and turned to her companion. "You really surprised me," she said to Bluebird, who chirped in response. "I never would have guessed that your locket had a chaos emerald inside. Maybe that was the reason why that mean robot was chasing us for all this time. Is there anything else in there?"

Bluebird opened his locket with a single peck. Amy moved in a little closer to take a look. Inside the locket was a photo of himself along with two other birds, one red and the other grey.

"Is that," Amy began to ask, "your brother and sister?"

Bluebird nodded, and his eyes began to faintly glisten with tears.

"Did Eggman catch them, too?" Bluebird nodded again.

"And when you were rescued, you had to leave them behind, didn't you?" Bluebird nodded a third time and a small tear dropped from his eye and fell onto the photo.

"Don't worry," Amy said. She had already came up with an idea. "Follow me, Bluebird. We're gonna find your brother and sister!"

Bluebird chirped excitedly and fluttered onto Amy's shoulder as she stood up from her chair.

"Since you originally lived in Mystic Ruins, we'll go there first. Maybe if we hurry, we'll be able to catch the train."

The duo headed out the door, went down an elevator, and exited the apartment building. After walking down a busy street filled with rush-hour traffic, they reached the SS Central Station, a large, white building with a grand-looking entrance supported by limestone columns.

Once inside, they reached the ticket area, where Amy paid for their fare. Amy and Bluebird then headed towards a magnificent marble staircase that split off at the top. Their train was waiting for them right at the end of the platform. After the conductor scanned their tickets, the duo boarded the train. Less than a minute later, the train began its journey towards Mystic Ruins.

Meanwhile, in Mystic Ruins, Sonic had just arrived at the entrance to Eggman's hidden base. Sonic was contemplating what actions he should take.

"I almost feel sorry for waking up the doctor, but what can you do?" He chose the direct approach. With a rolling spin, he brought the steel entrance doors crashing down. The security alarms began to scream throughout the entire base. Eggman was sitting in the main control center, alerted by the alarms. He activated the security cameras and saw Sonic's grinning face looking up at them. He wasn't in a great mood to begin with, and now he was more committed than ever to end the blue hedgehog's life. He pushed a small button which activated the intercom system.

"Sonic, I can't believe you forgot to use your manners," Eggman growled. "Still, I'm glad you're here. If you can make it through all of my traps in one piece, I'd be more than happy to meet you in the lower chambers."

"I'm up for it, Doc! Bring it on!" Sonic grinned. He then sped down the main entryway and ran into a large corridor.

Dozens of laser guns aimed themselves at Sonic and opened fire on him. The hedgehog effortlessly dodged the hot, pink beams, and continued on towards a large staircase which sloped downwards. At the bottom of the stairs, Sonic noticed a camera on the wall.

"Come on, Eggman," he snickered into the camera, "you can do a lot better than that."

"Oh, we'll see about that, Sonic! Enjoy this next treat. It's gonna be a real party!" Eggman's voice boomed through the intercom system.

Running down another corridor, Sonic found himself in a large room where a series of Eggpawns wearing party hats stormed their way towards him.

"Really, Doc?" Sonic laughed. "For a guy with such a high IQ, you can sometimes deploy the most ineffective and lamest defenses that have ever existed!"

"Oh, just shut up, will you?" Eggman growled as he watched Sonic effortlessly destroy every single robot in the room before he ran towards the next set of doors.

"I wonder which lame trick the doctor's gonna throw at me now." Sonic smirked and continued on.

Meanwhile, the train headed for Mystic Ruins sped along the tracks. Amy sat in a comfortable seat beside one of the large windows, watching everything zip by them. Bluebird sat beside Amy in a big, empty seat. She was still worried about Sonic, but she kept her focus on her current quest.

"We should arrive in about ten minutes," Amy told Bluebird. "Until then, we should just cherish this moment and relax a little bit. Something tells me that finding your siblings won't be easy."

Back in Eggman's base, Sonic ran down a very long and narrow corridor. Everything seemed to be going well until he noticed that he wasn't going anywhere. Underneath his feet were a series of rollers that were spinning at the same speed as him, but in the opposite direction, like a gigantic treadmill.

"Here, Sonic," Eggman laughed, "you're gonna have a ball!"

A giant stone ball that took up the entire height and width of the corridor began to roll straight at Sonic! Sonic actually began to feel a tad frightened as the ball barreled straight at him, ready to squash him flat. Desperate, Sonic powered up his Light Speed Dash, and the blue orbs of energy drew themselves into his very being. Fueled by this newfound energy, he was able to harmlessly smash through the boulder and rocket out of the hallway. Eggman had lost the last of his patience.

"I'm going to intercept that fool all by myself," Eggman declared as he leaped up from his armchair. He ran towards an elevator and it lowered him down to an unknown location. Sonic ran down four flights of stairs to the basement of the stronghold. He ran through another hallway with Eggpawn robots, but these guys didn't do any harm. Instead, they almost seemed to be cheering on Sonic as he made his way down a red carpet made of velvet.

"Wow, he even gave me the red-carpet treatment!" Sonic smiled. "He sure knows how to make a hero feel welcome." After running down a curved hallway, he paused in front of a pair of large metal doors. Before Sonic could try to bust through them, the doors automatically slid open, revealing a small, cylindrical room.

"Massive, armored doors," Sonic noted. "Little, enclosed space. Nowhere to go except 'in', and nowhere to go except 'back'. He might as well have put a great big neon sign above it saying, 'This way to my trap'!"

He began to strut through the doors, which slammed shut as soon as he crossed the threshold. The only thing left to do was to confront his final challenge: a face-off against Eggman himself, but Eggman wasn't about to let Sonic pummel his own bare body. A gigantic machine began to slide down and it stopped right in front of Sonic. The red machine consisted of a long, snake-like body. A laser cannon was mounted on the head, and two spinning spiked wheels were positioned on the sides of the head. This fearsome creation was appropriately named the Egg Viper. The large canopy on its head opened up, and Eggman and Sonic locked their eyes onto each other.

"This is the end of it all, Sonic," Eggman growled. "You and your pesky little friends have always been nothing but a thorn in my side. For many years, you have always caused me trouble, ruining every single one of my attempts to build my Eggman Empire! Now, this will be the last time I'll see you alive. All things between us end right here, right now."

With no more time for talking, Eggman was very anxious to permanently eliminate Sonic from his sight. The canopy closed tight and the giant metallic serpent rose up, ready to strike. The laser cannon fired up and blasted a scorching red beam straight at Sonic, who leaped out of the way just in time. The beam then swept back and forth, and Sonic was forced to keep jumping out of the way.

"You seem a bit jumpy lately," Eggman remarked. "Can't stand the heat?"

"I can take anything that comes my way," Sonic grinned. "Give me some more, Eggman!"

The Egg Viper swung its tail at Sonic, who did a backflip over it.

"Impressive," Eggman said. "Time to have some more fun."

The Egg Viper brought its tail down to the ground, causing a shock wave that shook the whole room. The entire chamber started to fall apart, and Sonic recalled a similar event that happened at Twinkle Park when he tried to rescue Amy.

"The whole room is falling apart!" Sonic exclaimed. "Are you really that desperate? Do you want to destroy both of us?"

"Don't worry, I'll survive," Eggman laughed. "I can't say the same for you, rodent."

All kinds of metal debris rained down and crashed around them. The Egg Viper swung its tail at Sonic once more, but he jumped over the tail and flew up into the air, ricocheting off the walls.

"I'm through with this," Eggman growled. The Egg Viper's spiked wheels dismounted and flew straight at Sonic like a pair of lethal Frisbees.

Sonic jumped off of any heavy object he could find to climb higher and higher up in the room, while dodging the wheels with amazing agility and precision. He suddenly spotted a long, metal pole and clutched it in his grasp before jumping up to a steel catwalk at the very top of the room.

Before long, the Egg Viper reached the top of the room where Sonic was. Eggman saw the pole in Sonic's hand, but he didn't feel it could do any damage against his mighty creation.

"It all ends now," Eggman proudly stated as the laser cannon began to power up. He was ready to blast Sonic at point-blank range. "Game over, Sonic."

"Now's my chance!" Sonic grinned.

With the metal pole in his hand, Sonic jumped up and jammed it into the narrow cannon with all of his strength. The hedgehog then bounced off of the Egg Viper, landing on a small ledge. The powerful energy was trapped inside the cannon, which began to expand before exploding in a fiery blast. The rest of the Egg Viper combusted as well and fell to the ground far below. Suddenly, massive flames shot upwards and set the entire place on fire.

Eggman, relatively unharmed, rose from the fallen wreck of his machine in the Eggmobile. He turned around and shook his fist at Sonic.

"You will pay for this!" Eggman screamed. "Mark my words, you will pay!"

The Eggmobile flew upward and escaped out of a small hole in the ceiling of the room. The hole was too high and dangerous for Sonic to reach, so he decided to go back the way he came. He ran at the speed of sound through the base, dodging every single obstacle in his way. Once outside, he took cover in the forest. Sonic watched as Eggman's entire base crumbled and burned away, leaving behind a pile of rock and twisted metal.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Not too far away, near Windy Valley, Gamma was standing on the edge of a tall cliff. He had been standing in this very spot ever since he flew off the Egg Carrier, not moving a single inch.

A series of thoughts were flashing through his head, one after the other. Pictures of Amy, Bluebird, Eggman, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta swam around in his memory. Amy's words resonated in his head: "Remember, you are free from Eggman now! Live your life however you want to."

The sequence of images kept on repeating themselves before the picture of Eggman stuck in his mind.

"Eggman not friend," Gamma said. "Deleting Master."

With every memory of his evil master now deleted, Gamma then thought about proceeding to free his brothers. "Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, all friends. Must free them." With that, he began a mission of his very own and flew up into the sky.

Gamma eventually landed in Windy Valley. Since the air currents were too dangerous for him to fly in, he continued the rest of his journey on foot. His scanners eventually detected Delta's signal, and it was beginning to move towards him. Seconds later, he was confronted by his blue brother, Delta.

"Why were you looking for me, Gamma?" Delta asked, suspicious.

"I must free my friends," Gamma declared as he shot a missile at his brother. He wanted this to be done quickly and painlessly.

Unfortunately, Delta dodged Gamma's missile. "Gamma traitor! Traitor!"

"Please, Delta," Gamma pleaded as he tried to fire at Delta again, but to no avail. "You must be freed."

Delta didn't understand Gamma's deeper meaning. "Delta is free! Already free! Eggman not Master, meaning Delta's free!" Angered, Delta fired two heavy missiles at Gamma, but he jumped back before the missiles could hit him, and they hit the ground in two fiery blasts.

Gamma was not about to give up. He jumped up and flew straight at Delta with surprising speed, ramming into Delta with his head and knocking him down to the ground, damaged. Gamma was extremely reluctant on doing this, but he knew he had to do it. He aimed his blaster downward, and fired three missiles straight at his brother. Delta could only watch as the missiles crashed into him and exploded. With a heavy heart, Gamma knelt down in front of his fallen brother's battered body.

"Delta, please forgive me," he said to his lifeless brother. "Our existence is merely an eternal prison sentence."

Gamma placed his left hand over Delta's head. Three wires came out of his fingers and inserted themselves into Delta's head, permanently erasing his entire programming. A small hatch on Delta's back opened up, and a little white rabbit encased in a green bubble floated out. The bubble popped and the rabbit dropped to the ground and hopped away.

"Delta is free," Gamma said as he took one last look at his brother's shell and walked away.

"Scanning..." Gamma said, looking for his other siblings. "Signal detected from Epsilon. Location: Red Mountain." With that, Gamma trekked further onward to free the other robots.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird had already disembarked their train. Bluebird decided to trace his route back to where his family lived before they were captured by Eggman and put inside the robots. Bluebird led Amy through the forest, and they soon reached one particularly tall tree. Bluebird then chirped and began to fly up the tree.

"Bluebird, wait for me!" Amy shouted.

She mustered up her strength and began to carefully scale the tree. Before long, she reached the branch where Bluebird was perched on to find an empty straw nest. Seeing that no one had been there for a long time, Bluebird's sorrow reemerged.

"Don't worry," Amy reassured him as they reached the ground. "I promise that we will not stop until we find your brother and sister."

Elsewhere, Gamma's quest eventually brought him to a series of caverns within a large volcano. He was standing on a large rocky ledge beside a pool of scorching orange magma. There, he laid eyes on his orange brother, Epsilon.

Like Delta, Epsilon refused to be released by Gamma. Gamma tried to fire a missile at Epsilon, who avoided it and fired four stinger missiles back at Gamma. Gamma locked onto them and destroyed them with his own missiles. He then activated his jet booster and flew over Epsilon, who tried to fire another round of stinger missiles. Epsilon decided to try to get even with Gamma by flying up to where he was, but this was not a good move on Epsilon's part. With lightning-fast speed, Gamma fired two missiles simultaneously at his orange brother, striking him at point-blank. Like before, Gamma inserted the wires in Epsilon's head, erasing his entire programming. A hatch on his back opened up and a little brown squirrel floated out in a green bubble. The bubble floated away, safely carrying the little animal out of the fiery caverns.

"Epsilon now safe," Gamma said. "Scanning for Zeta and Beta. Locations unknown."

He wasn't sure where he could find Zeta, but he last remembered seeing Beta on the Egg Carrier while he was being upgraded. Even though the chances that he was still there were quite slim, Gamma decided to make the Egg Carrier his next destination.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird came across the wreckage of Eggman's base, but they didn't realize it at first.

"Holy cow!" Amy cried. "This entire mountain just caved in on itself!"

She saw large pieces of twisted metal among the pile of rock, and she began to sort out the pieces of metal from the rubble to try to find a clue. Suddenly, she came across a small robotic arm.

"Wait a minute," she said. "This belongs to a robot. This must be Eggman's base! Or at least it used to be. What the heck happened here?"

Once again, Bluebird began to shed tears. He couldn't and didn't want to imagine his family being buried alive underneath all that rubble. Amy didn't know how to console him this time. She began to think about where and how she met Bluebird, and then something snapped inside of her.

"Bluebird!" Amy exclaimed. "I remembered you escaped from the Egg Carrier. Your family must be there! Don't worry, there's still hope!" Bluebird chirped excitedly in response, and they set off for Eggman's fallen ship.

Gamma had just landed on the Egg Carrier's main deck in front of the large door that led to the main hall. He activated his scanners and found two targets: one moving and the other stationary. He chose to go for the easier, stationary target first.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird were crossing the ocean in a rowboat on their way to the Egg Carrier.

"Don't worry, Bluebird," Amy said. "We'll get your brother and sister out of there in no time!"

Before long, the remains of the Egg Carrier came into view, resting on the surface of the sparkling blue ocean.

Upon arrival, they explored the dilapidated interior of the ship, which was in even worse shape than the outside. None of the lights worked, the walls were blackened and scorched, and the whole area was filled with a very thin layer of fog.

"Maybe this won't be as dangerous as I thought it would be," Amy said. "The ship looks like it's completely wrecked. Sonic and Tails must have really succeeded when they fought the Egg Carrier in the Tornado."

Unfortunately, safety was nowhere on the list of things they would encounter. Behind an open doorway, a dreadful pair of familiar red eyes illuminated.

The power on the Egg Carrier was pretty much depleted, so Amy was forced to push open a sliding door by herself. After they slipped through the door, they entered the room where Beta got his upgrades, although the robot was nowhere in sight. They saw a large raised platform in the center of the room, where a series of machines were attached to two long arms. As Amy tried to walk closer, her foot knocked into a hard object. The ground in front of her was littered with discarded black robot parts. As she curiously looked around, she barely noticed a faint shadow looming behind her. They turned around and faced their dreaded stalker, Zero!

"No!" Amy screamed in terror. "Not you again!"

She ran out of the door as fast as she could. Quickly, she pressed the button by the door, with her heart thumping, hoping it would work. To her surprise, the doors slammed shut, trapping Zero inside. With whatever little time they had before Zero would bust out of the door, they sprinted as far away from the room as possible.

Deep down in the lowest level of the ship, Gamma traveled through a wide corridor before arriving at a set of sliding doors. After pressing the button, the doors smoothly slid open to reveal a large, circular room. What stood before him was a robot that was completely different from anything he had ever seen before. It was a large, purple machine with eight missile launchers arranged in a circle around its body, which was stationed on a large, raised, central platform. The head turned around, and it revealed itself as Zeta, who was no longer the robot that Gamma used to know. He had been completely rebuilt as an entirely different machine, but still kept his purple color and his head.

"Zeta," Gamma said.

"Gamma," Zeta replied, "Intruder. All intruders must be destroyed." Zeta shot a large missile out of one of his turrets, heading straight for Gamma. Gamma leaped out of the way and the missile hit the floor, blasting a hole in it. Amy and Bluebird were close enough to hear the blast.

"Oh my gosh!" Amy screamed, her ears ringing due to the deafening booms of Zeta's missiles from not too far away. "I hope everyone's okay in there! We'd better check it out."

Zeta continued to fire missile after missile at Gamma, who did his best to avoid the blasts.

"Please, Zeta," Gamma pleaded. "You're my brother. We can put a peaceful end to all of this."

Zeta never spoke a single word and he just kept on relentlessly shooting at Gamma. The way Zeta was behaving wasn't like him at all. Gamma eventually hid behind a large control console, and Zeta ceased to fire. Gamma then came to the conclusion that Zeta must have been reprogrammed, similar to the others.

Gamma then jumped out and quickly fired his missile blaster. A well-aimed shot hit Zeta's head, completely decapitating the robot. Zeta's whole body froze in place now that he was headless. Gamma then walked over to the control console, and it turned out that it controlled the purple assault machine's operating system. After systematically pressing some buttons, he was able to completely shut Zeta down and erase his programming. A hatch opened and a small chipmunk encased in a green bubble was ejected. The chipmunk then ran out of the room via one of the large holes in the floor.

"Scanning... Units remaining..." Gamma said, "Beta."

Immediately after he said that, the ceiling began to collapse before completely breaking apart, and Beta dropped down. Like Zeta, Beta was no longer the robot that Gamma once knew, except that he had been completely rebuilt as an agile and more powerful flying unit. He had a new black-and-silver shell, and his brand-new energy blasters were also equipped with a pair of shield-like, twin-bladed gauntlets. His eyes were replaced with an advanced single green eye. His legs were gone, and he navigated with jets and a tail-like rudder.

"Beta," Gamma acknowledged.

Without saying a word, Beta responded by shooting at Gamma with a yellow blast of energy. Gamma barely avoided it by dodging to the side, and the blast shattered a wall behind him. Beta then shot another energy blast at the ceiling, blasting a hole in it, which he flew upward through. Amy and Bluebird arrived just in time to watch Gamma fly upward as well, in pursuit of his brother.

"Bluebird, look!" she said, her eyes widening. "It's Mr. Robot! It seems like that hole leads outside. Come on, we have to find them!" They turned and sprinted out of the room.

Gamma was now outside, and he spotted Beta flying above him, heading over to the giant green platform at the end of the Egg Carrier. He began to follow him there, and once they arrived, the two brothers faced each other for the final battle.

"Now, Gamma," Beta finally spoke, "let's see who is the superior model!"

"Beta, please stop," Gamma begged. "I'm your brother. I only want to free you for the greater good."

Beta didn't want to hear any of Gamma's spiel. "Silence!" Beta ordered before firing another blast of energy at Gamma.

Gamma attempted to retaliate by firing two missiles at Beta. Beta was faster than ever before and he had newer and better methods of defense. He demonstrated this by deflecting Gamma's missile with his gauntlet as if it was a pebble. Beta then formed a shield around himself and charged at Gamma with his gauntlets pointed straight at his red brother.

Gamma tried to dodge his attack, but Beta was too fast, and he managed to slash a part of Gamma's chest.

"Stop it, Beta!" Gamma shouted.

"I will not, Gamma!" Beta coldly responded before shooting another energy beam at Gamma, who moved aside.

Beta decided to change tactics. He flew up in the air, positioning himself for an aerial attack. He fired a series of energy beams from both of his cannons, one after the other. Gamma was sent running around, trying to avoid the blasts as they completely obliterated the glass floor in the platform's center. The aerial fighter then put his blasters together and fired one concentrated energy beam. Gamma was able to successfully dodge it, but the resulting explosion was so big that it rocked the entire ship and blew Gamma down to the floor. Beta hovered above Gamma to relish his superiority.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird had just arrived outside on the main deck. They were able to witness a couple of seconds of the light show at the front of the ship.

"Let's hustle before it's too late," Amy said and they started making their way to the green platform.

Gamma picked up his battered body off the floor and looked into the eye of Beta, who didn't even show a single scratch on his gleaming black shell.

"Please, Beta, listen to me," Gamma begged. "I'm your brother, remember?"

"Gamma enemy," Beta coldly replied. "All enemies must be eliminated!"

Beta deployed his shield, preparing to charge at Gamma once again. Gamma was prepared as well and he managed to quickly dodge the attack, and Beta flew right past him. Acting quickly, Gamma fired a series of missiles into Beta's unprotected back, fatally wounding him. However, Beta would not go down alone. With the last of his remaining strength, he put his blasters together before Gamma could react, and shot Gamma at point-blank range just as Amy and Bluebird showed up.

"No!" Amy gasped. "Mr. Robot!"

Gamma was fatally wounded as well, and he didn't have much time left to live. Beta's lifeless body hit the floor and combusted into flames. Gamma limped over to Beta with a very particular image permanently etched into his mind: Bluebird with his brother and sister. With a breaking voice, he said his last words: "Gamma is now... free."

The light in Gamma's eyes faded out and he hit the floor next to his brother, combusting into flames as well. Amy and Bluebird tried to run to his side, but the flames were too dangerous for them to get close. Tears were streaming down both Amy's and Bluebird's faces.

"You've done so much for both of us," Amy sobbed. "Oh, Mr. Robot, we'll never, ever forget you."

Amongst the flames, Amy and Bluebird were able to see Gamma's left hand placed over Beta's right blaster.

Even though it was a mournful loss for Amy, something good arose from this tragedy. Two green bubbles floated out of the flaming robots and popped, and Bluebird's eyes widened with joy. Two birds, one red and the other grey, flew up into the air, and they were just as happy to see Bluebird as he was. Bluebird was finally reunited with his brother and sister, and they flew around in circles, chirping happily. Suddenly, a big black metal fist targeted Bluebird and knocked him out of the air. He fell to the ground and Amy quickly rushed to his side.

"No, Bluebird!" she cried.

She picked him up and turned around. Zero retracted its fist behind them, looming over Amy. After the events that just happened, Zero was the very last thing that Amy wanted to see. Gently, she put Bluebird down on the floor while his siblings came to the poor bird's aid. She then faced Zero, her fear of it completely gone and replaced with an unimaginable amount of anger.

"You pushed me a little too far now, you hear me?" Amy screamed. "I just lost a good friend and Bluebird has been reunited with his family. How dare you spoil both of those moments!"

Amy then whipped out her hidden potential: her signature red-and-yellow Piko-Piko hammer.

"You're going to pay for what you did to Bluebird, bolt brain!" The infuriated hedgehog was now prepared to face off against Zero for the final battle.

Zero pinpointed Amy with its targeting laser and shot his black fist at the young hedgehog, but she knocked it aside with extreme force from her hammer. Amy was about to swing her hammer again, but Zero had a trick up its sleeve. It dislodged its fists and the cables that attached them to its body became electrified. Zero then spun around like a ballet dancer with the electrified cables spinning with it. Amy jumped over the cables like a jump rope.

"You're going down!" Amy hollered. She smacked Zero with a heavy blow from her hammer, ending its attack. The green robot was momentarily stunned by her attack, so Amy ran towards him for the fatal blow. She jumped up, and the Warrior Feather in her hair began to glow. Enraged, Amy brought her hammer down hard on Zero's head and crushed it in on itself.

"That was for Mr. Robot!" Amy said. She then held out her hammer to the side. "And this is for what you did to Bluebird!"

Amy mustered up all of her strength and smashed the hammer into Zero's side. The force of the blow was so immense that Zero was knocked through the air. The green robot hit the ocean's surface with a massive splash, and slowly sank to the cold, dark depths.

With Zero permanently gone, Amy ran over to Bluebird.

"Bluebird," she panted. "Are you okay?"

Bluebird had recovered from Zero's attack. He and his siblings flew up into the sky. Before they took off, Bluebird flew back to Amy and chirped with immense gratitude for everything she'd done for him.

"I was very happy to help you," she said to Bluebird. "Don't be a stranger, okay? You three are always welcome to visit me any time you want. I'm glad you're back with your family."

Bluebird flew back up to his siblings. They chirped their words of gratitude to Amy, and the happy trio flew into the sky. She stayed there, watching them fly further and further away until they eventually disappeared.

Amy sighed with relief and joy, and proceeded to depart the Egg Carrier. She was ready to breathe in a new beginning and have a new perspective on life.

"Life is too short to just sit around and simply hope that your wish will come true," Amy said to herself. "If you want something really bad, you have to go out and fight to get it. Watch out, Sonic, you're gonna be mine someday, and I will not give up, no matter what! Oh, I just can't wait to marry him and have a bunch of little hedgehogs!"

Giggling, Amy exited the fallen ship, got into her rowboat, and set sail.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Now that everybody's quests and problems were solved, and with Chaos gone, the Egg Carrier ruined, and Eggman's base destroyed, it seemed like everything was starting to return back to normal. Sonic was relaxing on a hill. His eyes were closed and he laid down on the soft grass. The gentle breeze was very soothing, as were the distant sounds of nature. After yawning and stretching briefly, he opened his eyes and gazed at the bright blue sky, and the grass was almost glowing in the sunlight.

"Those past few days were crazy, but they were a lot of fun as well," Sonic said. "Then again, what could be more fun than whipping that rotten egg's butt, just like the good old days, when everything was simple?"

Before he could close his eyes and drift off to sleep again, he heard a voice from above.

"Hey, Sonic!" Sonic opened his eyes to find Tails flying high above him.

"Yo, Tails!" Sonic greeted. "It's been a while since I've last seen you! What's up?"

"Well," Tails replied gleefully, "You won't believe what I just did. I saved Station Square all by myself not once, but twice!"

"You're kidding, right? That's amazing!" Sonic couldn't believe it, but he knew that Tails would never lie to him about something like that. "You seem to be developing into a great hero yourself, buddy. I'd better watch out or I might be ranked number two!"

"How about you, Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Well, after you kicked Eggman's butt," Sonic laughed, "I sort of finished him off and kicked some Ro-butt-nik. You could say it's been a great day for us heroes."

"The only bad thing is that I lost my plane," Tails frowned.

Seeing the look on his best friend's face, Sonic began to feel sorry for him, but he suddenly remembered something.

"Tails, I just remembered," Sonic began, "I think that big cat fellow escaped off the Egg Carrier in your plane."

"Do you mean Big?" Tails asked.

"How do you know him?" Sonic wondered.

"I met him in the forest a while ago," Tails replied. "He helped me after Eggman shot us out of the sky while we battled the Egg Carrier for the first time. Maybe he still has the Tornado II!"

"There's only one way to find out," Sonic grinned. "I'm pretty sure that for a laid-back guy who likes fishing, he probably lives somewhere in the forest. Come on, Tails, let's pay him a little visit."

The duo began to search for Big on foot, not noticing the dark storm clouds that were slowly begging to roll in and block the sunny sky.

Meanwhile, Big was taking a well-deserved break of his own after several days of chasing and fishing for Froggy. Big sat on the ground next to a stream with his Power Rod dipped into the water. Froggy, finally back to his old self and free of invaders, sat beside Big and eagerly waited to see what Big would catch next.

"It's good to see you back to normal," Big purred. "I'm glad it was that watery creature and not you that was doing those weird things."

Ribbit, Froggy responded.

"We'll catch our lunch very soon, Froggy," Big said. "Until then, let's just sit back, relax, and enjoy." He then noticed the dark storm clouds beginning to roll in. "It looks like a storm's coming. We'd better get to shelter fast."

Not too far away from Big's hut, the Tornado II laid near the stream. It crash-landed in this spot after Big and Froggy flew off the Egg Carrier, and its fuselage was heavily damaged. However, one thing remained perfectly intact, and that was the red chaos emerald that resided in the control panel. For a split-second, it shimmered.

On Angel Island, Knuckles was guarding the Master Emerald, just as he used to before his misadventure. The six chaos emeralds were placed around it, resonating with the soft green light generated by the Master Emerald. Knuckles saw the storm clouds rolling in and then he grew suspicious.

"This can't be an ordinary thunderstorm," he thought.

Rain began to pelt down onto the island, but not before something caught the echidna's attention. A blinding light flashed behind him, and he turned around. As he looked at the Master Emerald more closely, he saw what looked like lightning flashing within the Master Emerald itself.

Before Knuckles could question what this strange occurrence was, the unthinkable happened. Angel Island shook and began to fall a second time, roaring and rumbling as it rapidly descended through the clouds. It crashed into the ocean in the exact same spot as last time, and a massive tidal wave radiated out from all sides of the island. Knuckles was flung down to the ground, rendered completely unconscious.

Meanwhile, Eggman was riding in his Eggmobile through the forest, still recovering from his earlier defeats. He didn't pay any attention to the oncoming storm.

"Blast that stupid Sonic," Eggman growled. "He will pay for all of this. I may be down for the count now, but I will recover sooner than later. Sonic and his stupid little friends had better watch their backs."

Continuing down his path, he noticed a strange puddle of water on the ground, and it began to move straight towards the doctor, who was instantly horrorstruck.

"Chaos!" he screamed, and then everything went black.

Back on Angel Island, Knuckles woke up and rose to his feet.

"Man, I must have passed out," Knuckles groaned, scratching his head. "How could this have happened? The Master Emerald is at full power! Maybe those chaos emeralds that I brought back with me have something to do with this problem. I'd better find and warn the others!"

Knuckles gathered the six chaos emeralds and stowed them in his brown sack. He proceeded to leave Angel Island, with the sack clutched in his hand. Soon, he was running through the forest, trying to find Sonic and Tails. He eventually paused, seeing Eggman lying unconscious on the ground in front of him.

"Eggman?" Knuckles wondered. "W-what happened here?" Knuckles began to examine him, but he never noticed that the strange puddle of water was right behind him...

Sonic and Tails felt the vibrations from Angel Island's second fall, and they ran through the forest. They felt that it was a bigger priority to check on Knuckles than to search for the Tornado II. Before long, they came across Knuckles and Eggman, who were both out cold on the ground. The puddle was gone as well.

"Whoa!" Sonic gasped. "What the heck happened here?"

Tails walked up to Eggman to inspect him while Knuckles awoke and rose to his feet, groaning.

"Sonic, uhhh... sorry!" Knuckles said in a fearful tone.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Sonic sorrowed as he bent down to make sure he was okay. "And what is Eggman doing here?"

"Sonic, it was Chaos," Knuckles said. "He's still alive."

"What?!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed in disbelief.

Eggman slowly began to wake up. Sonic turned to the doctor and demanded answers.

"Hey, look who's finally awake," Sonic said sarcastically. "What happened here?"

"Chaos turned against me," Eggman growled. "That's what's going on. That freak wants to use the power of the chaos emeralds all for itself. He was using me to serve his own desires, and it looks like he'll succeed."

"I'm afraid he's right, Sonic," Knuckles dismayed. "After Chaos ambushed me, he stole all six of my chaos emeralds."

Eggman picked himself up off the ground and got to his feet. Right on cue, Decoe and Bocoe appeared in the Eggmobile and wrapped a steel cable around the doctor.

"All right, Bocoe, start reeling him up," Decoe said.

"I can't! The winch is jammed!" Bocoe cried.

Decoe came up with an idea. "Let's try pulling him up ourselves!"

"No way!" Bocoe objected. "All of that weight will burn out our motors!"

"Don't just leave me hanging here like a giant salami!" Eggman growled.

"Try not to get agitated, Doctor!" Decoe warned. "The cable could break!"

"Just relax and enjoy the ride," Bocoe said just before they took off, with a screaming Eggman hanging below.

"Sonic," Knuckles said. "Chaos is a fearsome beast. The more emeralds he is fed, the stronger he gets. Remember how tough he was to fight with six emeralds inside him? He was a split-second away from killing you. If he gets a hold of the seventh emerald, we're all done for!"

"No worries, Knux," Sonic said. "Tails and I already know where the last emerald is. It's just a matter of beating Chaos to it."

Sonic had a plan formed, but before he and Tails could set it into motion, the mysterious red light appeared and headed straight for Sonic. For a moment, all Sonic could see was white, but the light quickly faded away to reveal the burning Master Emerald shrine once again. This time, something big was happening. Pachacamac and his clan of warriors were about to launch their attack on the shrine. They had come to claim the power of all seven chaos emeralds as well as the Master Emerald for themselves. However, the shrine's only line of defense, composed of Tikal and the Chao, fiercely stood their ground.

"Get out of our way!" Pachacamac demanded. "Can't you see that this is our holy moment of glory?"

"No way!" Tikal screamed. "I won't let you!"

"Did you hear what I said, Tikal?" her father roared.

"I will not obey no matter what you say, Father," Tikal argued. "You're putting all of us, including you, in serious danger! Please stop, or you'll regret your decision forever!"

"I told you," Pachacamac lectured, "that the seven emeralds are the key to our power! We need this power to claim superiority over our enemies. You, Tikal, are a part of this clan. If you continue to serve as an obstacle for us, you'll be betraying your own people!"

"Father, listen to yourself!" Tikal cried. "You're the one betraying our own people! You have to understand that what you are doing is causing nothing but pain and suffering! Greed is our enemy, you know. Once it starts, you will always want more! We can still stop this before it's too late! Please, Father, I'm begging you!"

Pachacamac has had enough of this. He was going to continue with his plan, regardless of the severe consequences that would follow.

"Bah!" he rejected. "I don't listen to the words of a child! Our clan has spoken, and we're going to seize those emeralds, and no one will stop us, not even you! Warriors, attack!"

Pachacamac held his spear forward and the other echidnas charged like angry bulls, right on his command. Tikal screamed as the warriors barreled towards her and sent her flying through the air before she brutally hit the ground. The helpless Chao let out little cries of pain as they were knocked aside too. The water flowing from the shrine rippled aggressively in response to the cries of the little creatures.

Pachacamac then raced forward to join the others, intentionally trampling over his own daughter in the process. The echidnas reached the top of the steps just as the seven chaos emeralds floated above the Master Emerald and revolved around it, glowing with an immense amount of energy. The air crackled with boundless power as the echidnas feasted their eyes on their ultimate prize. Pachacamac moved to the front of the group with his heart pounding in excitement. However, his excitement, as well as the others', soon came to a halt. A puddle of water slid out from underneath the Master Emerald, morphing into Chaos 0. The echidnas had neither seen nor heard of this creature until now.

Pachacamac gasped, completely stricken with terror. "Auugghh! It's a monster!"

Chaos 0 was very angry, and he prepared to attack. He spread his arms out and the light from both the chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald grew brighter and brighter as the monster absorbed their energy. Pachacamac, as well as the other echidnas, were succumbed to unimaginable terror as a mighty wave of blinding light shot out in every direction from the shrine's altar.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Once the light cleared, all of the echidnas were gone, as well as Chaos 0 and the seven emeralds. The Master Emerald, as well as all of the destruction caused by the tribe's attack, was all that was left. Sonic witnessed the entire event with his own two eyes, unable to say a word. He then saw Tikal lying injured on the ground and ran to her aid.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sonic asked her.

"I think so," Tikal replied as she slowly opened her eyes. She mournfully looked at the destruction that her tribe brought upon her sacred home.

"Oh my gosh," Tikal gasped. "No! No! Nooo!"

Everything that Tikal worshipped for and held dear to her heart was now in ruins. Chaos had transformed into what looked like a horrifying leviathan, inflicting his wrath in the most terrible ways imaginable. He let out a mournful and shrilling roar.

Tikal had nothing left for her to do in this cruel world, so she chose to take one final and drastic course of action. She raced up the stairs to the Master Emerald. The hedgehog was curious about what she was going to do, and he walked up the stairs, standing just behind her at the top of the shrine.

"There is nothing left," she said to the Master Emerald. "I have to put an end to all of this pain and suffering!"

"Tikal," Sonic asked. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Tikal turned around and faced Sonic, putting her hands together in a prayer-like fashion. "Listen closely," she said before turning back to the Master Emerald. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the Chaos. I finally understand what the Great Emerald has been trying to tell me. The seven emeralds take what is in our hearts and turn them into power. But if the heart that wields the emerald is full of anger and hate, then that power will do nothing but bring mayhem and destruction to the world! This one emerald is the master that controls that power! Oh, please, you must stop Chaos!"

The Master Emerald responded to Tikal's pleas, and Tikal opened her arms as the large gem unleashed a massive wave of power that blanketed the entire area. Tikal slowly faded away before disappearing into the bright light. This was almost too much for Sonic to handle, but he was quickly brought back to the forest, staring into the eyes of Tails.

"Wake up, Sonic!" Tails cried.

"Tails?" Sonic blinked. "Was I standing here the whole time?"

"Yeah, you were certainly conked out," Tails said. "You had this blank look on your face. Knuckles had already left to track down Chaos, so let's go find the last emerald. It should still be inside the Tornado II!"

"Let's get cracking!" Sonic grinned and the duo quickly sped off.

In almost no time, Sonic and Tails reached the wreckage of the Tornado II. The red chaos emerald was intact and clearly visible in the control panel.

"Perfect," Sonic said. "Now let's just grab that emerald and get out of here."

"My plane," Tails cried. "It's a total wreck!"

"You can fix it later, bud," Sonic told him. "We don't have a single moment to lose."

Tails ran towards his beloved machine and got his hands on the glittering jewel. Suddenly, a small cyclone of water formed around himself and the plane.

"Tails!" Sonic yelled. "Get away from there now!"

Tails jumped back in fright, dropping the emerald in the process. The water began to swirl around the plane and it shot upwards, forming a massive spinning tower of water. Chaos was trying to grab the last emerald for himself, but Sonic wasn't about to let that happen.

"Oh, no you don't, you big drip!" Sonic yelled as he bravely jumped up into the roaring tornado, trying to grab the red jewel as it flew upward, spinning around. The forceful swirls of the twister gradually overpowered Sonic, who was launched into the air. He safely landed on his feet just as a fissure opened up, splitting the ground in two. Sonic and Tails could only watch helplessly as both the watery tower and the last chaos emerald disappeared into it. The fissure then closed and sealed itself. Tails fell to his knees while Sonic hung his head and remained as still as a rock. Their nightmares had come true. Chaos now possessed all seven emeralds.

"What are we gonna do, Sonic?" Tails asked him.

Sonic said nothing, but the tension in his face implied that he was prepared to fight Chaos to the bitter end.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Meanwhile, in Station Square, things seemed to be back to normal. After witnessing Tails defeat Eggman with his bare hands, everyone felt reassured that they weren't in danger anymore. People were simply going about their everyday business, meeting friends, shopping, driving their cars, and attending work or school.

In Amy's apartment, Amy sat by the window again, except this time, she was no longer having constant thoughts of depression and Sonic. She was prepared to embrace the future with her new outlook on life. Her eyes widened with joy as she watched Bluebird and his siblings fluttering up to her window.

"Bluebird!" Amy joyfully exclaimed. "You guys did come and see me after all!"

She slid her window open, gaining the feathered trio entry. They landed on her coffee table.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you all," Amy squealed with happiness. "What have you three been up to?"

Bluebird chirped to his siblings, then again at Amy. She could tell that he really missed her company.

"We still have a lot of time," Amy said. "Now that I'm not so focused on Sonic, I am allocating my time and energy to try other things. Twinkle Park has just been fixed up. Our last visit there wasn't pleasant at all, so why don't we go a second time? I've really been looking forward to it."

The three birds chirped excitedly, and Amy went to her room to get something. All peace and safety in Station Square seemed to have finally been restored. However, it wouldn't last for long. Deep below the streets of the city, something very strange was happening in the sewers. The water flowing through the intricate network of tunnels was starting to fluctuate in the form of small ripples, and it slowly began to rise higher and higher. The citizens above didn't notice anything. The water soon rose to alarming heights, and then a huge rush of water barreled through the tunnels, flooding them at an even quicker rate.

Amy, Bluebird, and his siblings were about to leave their room when Amy felt a small tremor, startling all of them. She quickly ran to the window to see if anyone else felt it as well, and sure enough, they did. Most of the people near her apartment building stopped and wondered what happened. Further down the street, people were walking around as if nothing happened. The cars rolling down the streets didn't even seem to register the mildest alarm. After a taxicab drove over a manhole cover, the cover shook and then it skyrocketed into the air, propelled by a gushing geyser of water. People jumped and screamed as more manhole covers gave way to more towers of water in quick succession. The ground then shook even harder, reaching the magnitude of an earthquake. Cars came to a screeching and dangerous stop when a series of deep and monstrous cracks stretched through the streets, ripping them apart. The whole city was filled with the shrieks and screams of everyone frantically scrambling to find some form of safety.

It seemed like the city was being attacked by a natural disaster, but was it? The next thing that happened was shattering, literally. The cracks extended their way to several buildings, and a disturbing chain reaction followed. Hundreds of windows shattered all at once before the unthinkable happened. Tons upon tons of water began spewing out of the buildings, rapidly flooding the streets below. Like what happens when you see or hear someone yawn, this "water-spewing" happened to many other buildings, one after the other. The deafening roar of the raging waters drowned out every other sound except for the panicked screams of thousands of people. This rapid accumulation of H20 washed through the streets at an appalling rate, and the city of Station Square was on the unavoidable verge of an epic flooding.

Amy was freaking out as she watched the water levels swiftly rise.

"Come on!" she yelled to Bluebird and the others. "We have to get out of here now!"

She yanked open her door to find dozens of people frantically scrambling and pushing other people over to reach the stairs and elevators. Amy's heart was beating faster than ever before due to all of the chaos going on. She was stuck in the middle of an epic disaster and Sonic and his friends were nowhere to be found. Bluebird and the other avians were fearing for their own lives, but they would never leave Amy's side.

"Okay, Amy, pull yourself together," she told herself. She then whipped out her Piko-Piko hammer and slammed it into a wall, which silenced everyone and they stopped running.

"Listen up, everybody!" Amy sternly yelled. "Follow me up the stairs in a quick and orderly fashion. If you want to safely make it out of here, you'd better listen to me!"

The crowd wasn't sure what to do at first, but they obeyed and kept quiet since she held up the giant hammer. Amy began to direct everyone up the nearest staircase, letting the women and children go first. She and a large, muscular man helped the remaining people reach the rooftop. The water level was now at extreme heights.

Amy then walked up to the edge of the rooftop and she and the others observed what had become of their city. Everyone was overcome with emotion as their once great metropolis had been reduced to a wasteland of water and damaged buildings. Fortunately, it didn't seem like anyone was seriously injured as they found safety on the roofs of skyscrapers and other tall buildings, similar to Amy and the apartment's other residents. Suddenly, everyone felt an even stronger rumble, and they turned to watch a gigantic tsunami sweep itself across the entire city, completely obliterating any smaller and weaker structure. The sky was completely shrouded in greenish-grey storm clouds that blocked out every single ray of sunlight. The city was practically a graveyard now, decimated in a flood of biblical proportions, and all of this happened in less than five minutes.

Suddenly, something unimaginable happened in a tall building not too far away. Water began spouting from several small holes in the building, followed by one colossal burst of water exploding from its side. However, this was no ordinary water as it was suspended in place. Everyone watched in horror as it swirled and semi-solidified into something that not even their worst nightmares could imagine. What emerged was an enormous dragon-like head with massive jaws that extended way beyond its closed eyes. Its jaws opened, revealing hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, and its mouth was drooling waterfalls of H20. It cried out a terrifying roar and its eyelids opened up, revealing two green reptilian eyes. With the power of all seven chaos emeralds behind him, this monster was previously only known of in legend: the ultra-powerful and near-immortal God of Destruction, Perfect Chaos.

Perfect Chaos' nightmarish stature was a terrifying sight for everyone to bear witness to. The titanic leviathan disappeared from the skyscraper that his head was poking through and he dissolved into the flooded streets of the fallen kingdom. He rose from the waters some distance away, and it gave everyone a clear view of just how massive he was. His body was rather snakelike, and he had two rows of stubby spines on the back of his neck. He had two appendages in the form of long tentacles, and a large, vigorously swirling cyclone of water formed around the base of his body. Everyone could only hope that he wouldn't turn his attention to them, but nothing else could be done to stop the monster. Now that Chaos had reached his final and ultimate form, he proceeded to tear the city apart, as if his mere first appearance hadn't done enough of that already. With just one swipe of his mighty tentacle, he slashed a skyscraper into pieces, and he destroyed a large factory with the other. The powerful god cried out another mournful roar and moved on to the next target that he could demolish.

"This can't be happening," an elderly woman cried.

"Please tell me that this is all just a very bad dream," a young man got to his knees and prayed while pinching himself.

Amy, Bluebird, and his siblings stood amongst the people. Amy had a very distressed look on her face.

"Sonic," she whispered. "We need you. Please come."

Perfect Chaos roared into the sky once again, and everyone cowered and trembled in fear as thunder boomed throughout the dark heavens. A jagged bolt of lightning, accompanied by a blinding flash, crackled and tore its way through the sky, striking a massive skyscraper. A massive fireball erupted out of the building and tons of flaming rubble fell into the raging sea of water. As everyone mournfully watched with despair, a small group of kids walked up to Amy.

"Amy," the youngest boy asked, "Sonic's gonna come and rescue us, right?"

Everyone turned towards Amy, wanting to know the same thing.

"Don't worry," Amy comforted them. "Sonic's going to show up and beat that scary monster. You just have to believe that he can do it." She then asked the kids, "Do you believe?"

"I believe," a small girl answered before the other kids gave the same response. It gave everyone, kids and adults alike, a glimmer of hope.

It was about to pay off, since Sonic was hastily making his way down a long suspension bridge towards the city.

"Hold on, everyone," he said. "I'm on my way!"

Meanwhile, Perfect Chaos moved through Station Square like a bulldozer on a rampage. He whipped out both of his tentacles, viciously shattering a large shopping mall as well as an office complex. He then reached the Casinopolis building. The owner, Mr. Benson, was standing among a large group of people in a skyscraper, with his head poking out of the window.

"Oh, no!" he gasped. "Not my casino!"

Perfect Chaos pushed his way through the casino as if it were made of toothpicks. After witnessing such a horrible sight, Mr. Benson fainted, falling backwards into the arms of another man. Suddenly, everyone's attention, including Perfect Chaos', was directed towards a series of whooshing sounds from the sky. Everyone looked upward and saw a squadron of sleek, grey fighter jets zooming through the sky. Each aircraft featured the initials G.U.N. on both sides.

"All right!" a man exclaimed. "It's the Guardian Unit of Nations, the government's new military force! They're gonna annihilate that beast for good!"

"I doubt that," is what Amy was about to say, but she kept it to herself.

The jets positioned themselves for an attack, armed with special beam cannons similar to the one on the Egg Carrier, but smaller. Once they were in range, they were about to let Perfect Chaos take it all.

"Commence attack pattern Bravo," ordered the lead pilot. "Copy that, squadron."

"Let's take him down!" another pilot exclaimed.

Neon-blue streams of energy were fired from the jets' cannons and they all hit Perfect Chaos, but he continued moving around as though he didn't even feel them. The jets flew right past him and turned around to unleash another assault. Perfect Chaos was not interested. He opened his massive jaws and lunged forward with his head, swallowing up every jet which harmlessly exploded inside him.

"They couldn't stop him!" a man cried.

"I'm scared, Mommy," a little girl wept as her mother tried to console her.

"We're done for," a man on Amy's building said with his head hung down.

Amy was starting to feel hopeless herself, but when she looked down, her eyes widened with joy and excitement.

"Everyone, look!" she said.

Everyone rushed to the edge and looked down, and they all had the same facial expression as Amy. Sonic had finally arrived!

He was standing on what was left of a broken bridge, observing the destruction all around him.

"Wow, Station Square has certainly seen better days," Sonic said.

As much as he wanted to, Sonic was unable to move from this spot. He was like an ant compared to Perfect Chaos, and the beast was entirely made of water, his greatest weakness. It was only when he sliced another building in half that he began to pull himself together.

"Come on, Sonic," he said to himself. "The entire city is counting on you. All right, you big drip, your playtime is over!"

He began charging up his Light Speed Attack as a series of blue orbs drew themselves into the glowing golden studs on Sonic's shoes. Glowing with a neon-blue aura, Sonic launched himself into the air towards Perfect Chaos, and everyone within the vicinity began to cheer him on.

"GO, SONIC!"

Perfect Chaos saw him coming, and he swatted Sonic away like a fly with one swipe of a tentacle. The disgruntled hedgehog fell back onto the bridge.

"Why the heck did I think that would work?" Sonic kicked himself. "I'd better come with a plan B fast!"

He then took a good look at the leviathan, and he felt a wave of strange deja vu wash over him.

"Wait a second," he snapped his finger. "I've seen that form of his before. Chaos was that sea monster that I saw in the temple!"

Simply recalling who the monster was did not help the situation. Sonic began to grow desperate and run out of ideas, but suddenly help arrived from the unlikeliest of sources as a large shadow was cast over the area. Dr. Eggman had arrived, in a second, brand-new Egg Carrier! It looked just like the original except that it bore a large white "2" on both sides.

"Back off, Sonic!" Eggman bellowed. "Chaos double-crossed me, so now it's my turn to get even with that traitor!"

Everyone, including Sonic, was flabbergasted. Dr. Eggman, everyone's worst enemy and the man indirectly responsible for this mayhem, was now fighting on the heroes' side! Eggman didn't care about the safety of everyone else. All he wanted was payback against Perfect Chaos.

The cockpit was slightly modified so that Decoe and Bocoe were manning the controls instead of a bunch of Eggpawn robots. Dr. Eggman sat in his chair that was elevated above and behind Decoe and Bocoe. Eggman's eyes were glued to the large viewing screen with Perfect Chaos directly in his sights.

"As an evil genius, I always have a backup plan," he proudly stated. "That's why I built the Egg Carrier 2! You'd better watch out, Chaos, because things are about to get really chaotic!"

Decoe and Bocoe were running through the checklists to get all of the weapons loaded.

"All attack systems are online, Doctor!" Decoe said.

"Blast charges are loaded and ready to fire at your command!" Bocoe announced.

"You're finished, Chaos!" Eggman screamed. "The price of being disloyal to the Eggman Empire is complete annihilation! Prepare to be blown to smithereens! Commence full assault mode!"

The Egg Carrier 2's wings folded out as it transitioned into Battle Mode, revealing an even bigger arsenal of guns, laser cannons, and missiles, all of which were armed. The nose of the battleship opened up, revealing a shiny new power cannon. Eggman wasn't fooling around.

"Ready?" he asked Decoe and Bocoe, who stuck their thumbs up. "FIRE!"

A deadly barrage of missiles, lasers, and armored bullets were fired, and the massive blue beam from the Eggbeam Cannon followed. Eggman smiled gleefully, certain that he would finish off Perfect Chaos, but the monster then deployed a startling and all-too-effective method of defense. It projected a glowing, transparent shield around its entire form, and it effortlessly blocked every one of Eggman's attacks. Now it was Perfect Chaos' turn as he prepared to unleash one of his deadliest attacks. He opened his gaping maw and a shining light began to form. It was then shot out as a massive white beam that clobbered the Egg Carrier 2. The entire flying fortress exploded in a massive, fiery blast, and Eggman, as well as his henchbots, were tossed into the sky as if they were garbage.

"Oh, great," Sonic groaned and pounded the ground with his fist. "How will we beat him now?"

With the military wiped out, the Egg Carrier 2 completely destroyed, and Sonic clearly outmatched by Perfect Chaos, it seemed like everything was over. However, help was on the way in the form of a glimmering red orb of light that flew down towards Sonic.

"Hey," Sonic smiled, recognizing the light. "Something tells me that you arrived here to help, right?"

In response, the small red orb gave way to a brilliant white light that engulfed the whole area. As the light began to clear, the red orb, in a shocking turn of events, transformed into a familiar figure. Sonic could not believe his very own eyes. Standing right in front of him was Tikal, right there and now, as real as Sonic himself.

"Tikal," Sonic greeted. "Were you the light that has always been following me around?"

"Yes, Sonic," Tikal answered. "For thousands of years, my spirit has been sealed in the Master Emerald along with Chaos'. Ever since my father attacked the shrine, Chaos has only known hate and anger. If this continues on any longer, he will use the dark energy of the chaos emeralds to destroy the whole world!"

Speaking of the chaos emeralds, Sonic and Tikal watched as the emeralds floated outside of Perfect Chaos' body and swirled around his head before dropping down to different locations in the city. One of the emeralds landed right between Tikal's feet. For a second, it brightly shined before the light quickly faded out, and it became a dull, useless rock. She bent down and picked it up.

"Look," Tikal cried. "Chaos has drained all the emeralds of their power. There is only one way to end all of this. Sonic, you must seal Chaos inside the Master Emerald now!"

"It won't work," Sonic argued. "If we seal Chaos inside the Master Emerald, the same thing will only happen again. We have to find a way to put all of this to an end once and for all."

"Yes," Tikal replied, "But how can we?"

The answer was about to be revealed. Tails, Knuckles, Big, and Amy were standing in different locations throughout the flooded city, each standing over one of the chaos emeralds.

"Sonic!" Amy called out.

She had found a way off of her apartment building and arrived at the bridge where Sonic and Tikal stood. Followed by Bluebird as well as his siblings, she anxiously ran towards him, obviously excited to finally see Sonic again.

"Here, Sonic, take this!" she said as she handed him the emerald.

Sonic warmly smiled and replied, "Thank you, Amy." Amy couldn't recall the last time Sonic smiled at her like that and she began to embrace him, nearly melting on the spot. Unfortunately, the moment was ruined by Tails' and Knuckles' rather untimely arrival, with Big trailing closely behind. They each carried a chaos emerald, so now Sonic had four emeralds, and there were still three more left.

"Hey guys," Sonic smiled. "So you all did show up!"

"Chaos only used the negative energy of the emeralds," Tails told Sonic as he gave the hedgehog his emerald. "If you use the positive powers, you can defeat him."

"I think Tails is right," Knuckles smiled and handed his emerald over to Sonic. "You have more experience than I do, so you're better suited for the job."

Big walked up to Sonic with an emerald in his hand.

"I wanted to give you many thanks for helping me and Froggy," he said. "You can have the pretty rock that we found."

"Thank you, everyone," Sonic warmly smiled. Everyone came to support him.

An unexpected visitor then showed up with the fifth emerald: Cream the Rabbit!

"Sonic," she said in her cute, high-pitched voice, "you can have this. Sorry I never took part in your journey, but here I am now!"

"Thank you, Cream," Sonic smiled at the young rabbit, who started to giggle.

An even more unexpected source of help came in the form of Dr. Eggman, who appeared above their heads in the Eggmobile. Without saying a word, he threw the final two jewels down to Sonic.

Sonic had all seven emeralds in his possession, but they still didn't have any power in them. It was time for the citizens of Station Square to support Sonic in the best way that they knew how.

"Go, Sonic!" cheered a large group of kids.

This was quickly followed by the adults and then the entire city. With lots of positive energy, Sonic's name was shouted throughout Station Square. The seven chaos emeralds resonated with their cheers, and their light was restored to their full brightness. In a magnificent spectacle, the colorful gems floated out of Sonic's arms and began to revolve around him in a wide circle. Sonic himself began to levitate and float up in the air, and their mystical energy showered Sonic in a glittering, golden light. A miraculous transformation then took place within this beautiful display. As Sonic absorbed the power of all seven emeralds, his blue color changed into a golden-yellow hue. All of his quills pointed upward, his green eyes changed to a bright-red shade, and a flame-like aura of light radiated off of his body. Once the golden radiance faded away enough for everyone to see clearly, they were stunned by Sonic's new transformation. Practically godlike himself now, he had transformed into Super Sonic, a being of near-unlimited power. Tikal could not believe her very own eyes since she had never seen this side of the chaos emeralds before.

"It's so beautiful," she said, completely taken aback. "I thought that the power of the emeralds could only be awakened by hate and anger. Is this the emeralds' true power?"

"Yes," Knuckles replied. "There are other things that are even more powerful than negativity."

"When everyone gave the emeralds to Sonic, it was because of our friendship," Tails added. "Caring and love are stronger than hate and that's how Sonic is going to defeat Chaos!"

Brimming with incredible energy, Super Sonic grinned and blasted off into the sky. From his vantage point, he looked Perfect Chaos straight into the eyes, who in turn did the same with Super Sonic. The epic, final battle between the two super-powered godlike beings was about to begin.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Every citizen of Station Square watched with anticipation to see who would win this colossal showdown. Both Super Sonic and Perfect Chaos were fired up and raring to go.

"You play the first card, Chaos," Super Sonic boasted.

"Don't get too cocky, Sonic!" Tails warned.

"I've got this, don't worry," Super Sonic said. The second he turned around, however, his body was smacked aside by Perfect Chaos' left tentacle. The force of the blow was enough to send Super Sonic flying several feet across the sky and he crashed right through a skyscraper. He went out the other side and managed to stop in midair.

"Ooooohhhh!" everyone cringed.

Super Sonic shrugged off Perfect Chaos' attack, rubbing his head. "Nice shot, big drip. Now it's my turn!"

Super Sonic streaked through the sky towards Perfect Chaos, leaving behind a trail of sparkling, golden light. Perfect Chaos opened his enormous mouth and discharged his breath beam at Super Sonic. The hedgehog swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding the beam before going around the monster. He flew inside the beast's body and spiraled up inside him, eventually rocketing out of his mouth where he released an enormous wave of energy. The monster's entire body exploded with a gigantic splash. The citizens of Station Square cheered and Super Sonic hung in the air to relish his apparent victory.

"Is it over?" Amy wanted to know.

"There's no way that Chaos would go down with an attack like that," Knuckles said.

The watery leviathan reformed at the other end of the city, and everyone instantly stopped cheering and gasped. He then lowered his massive head and released a cluster of violet fireballs into the sky. The fireballs then fell towards the city like meteorites, and it didn't take Super Sonic too long to notice that they were all directed at him. Quickly, he focused a golden protective shield around himself just before the fireballs began to rain down on him, and they instantly neutralized on impact. Super Sonic then let out a short scream as Perfect Chaos' deadly breath beam nearly hit his face, and he dodged to the side just in time. The monster didn't let up. He kept firing more beams at Super Sonic, who was laughing and taunting him as he acrobatically danced around the blasts.

Seeing that Super Sonic wasn't harmed by the beams, Perfect Chaos grew tired of attacking his golden foe. While discharging one long beam, he swung his head around towards the bridge where all of Sonic's friends stood. They all ducked low and screamed in terror as the light from the beam glared off them. Super Sonic instantly zipped in front of them and received the blast head on, blocking it with his own power. Furious and powerful winds screamed and howled around them all before the beam eventually dissipated. As everyone came out of hiding, Super Sonic turned towards them and asked if they were okay.

"That was close," Tails sighed with immense relief.

"If that beam would have lasted one more second," Knuckles said, "we would have all been vaporized."

"I'm glad that Froggy wasn't here to watch this," Big said with his heart pounding.

"That beam attack of his is starting to get on my nerves," Super Sonic complained. "I wish there could be a way for me to fight back."

Suddenly, Super Sonic's right hand began to glow with a golden light. He held this hand up and he had a feeling on what it was all about.

"Here goes nothing," Super Sonic said.

Turning back to Perfect Chaos, he made a fist and threw it forward. To everyone's surprise, including his own, a golden beam of energy flew out of his hand and struck Perfect Chaos. The god cried out in pain as powerful arcs of energy swirled around him.

"This is awesome!" Super Sonic grinned.

Perfect Chaos quickly recovered from Super Sonic's attack. As his breath beam began to form, Super Sonic cocked his arm like a gun, more ready and eager for it this time. Tails knew what was about to happen and he ordered everybody to duck down. Perfect Chaos expelled his breath beam and Super Sonic shot his own beam at Perfect Chaos. Super Sonic's beam was much smaller than Perfect Chaos', but it wasn't any less powerful. The two mega-powerful attacks collided in the air with a thunderous crash. The entire city shone with a blinding light as the beams were locked in midair, and the forces behind them refused to back down. More and more force was put into the beams until a massive explosion crackled like a firework. Super Sonic acted quickly, firing his beam straight at Perfect Chaos, who was hidden behind a cloud of smoke. A massive bang was heard, and Super Sonic was certain that he finished off the monster. However, once the smoke cleared, Perfect Chaos' barrier surrounded him.

"Nice save," Super Sonic remarked.

"They're evenly matched," Knuckles said. "This could go on all day."

"My Sonic will win, trust me," Amy said. "He's never been defeated before."

The storm suddenly began to grow more intense. The winds picked up and the water that flooded the streets became wavy. Lightning crackled through the black clouds, illuminating the entire city with every flash. The source of this fierce storm was Perfect Chaos, who was becoming ever more enraged. Suddenly, Tikal showed up, landing right beside Knuckles.

"Chaos is tapping into the darkest depths of his anger," Tikal stressed. "The more his fury grows, so does his power.

"Then Sonic needs to stop playing around before it's too late," Knuckles said.

Perfect Chaos was ready to unleash a new array of tricks now that his strength was enhanced. A large orb rose out of the water towards Super Sonic. In a startling feat of shape-shifting, the orb had transformed into a life-size, watery clone of Super Sonic! Everyone who witnessed this was speechless.

"Freaky," he admitted.

The watery clone thrust its right hand forward and blasted a jet of water at Super Sonic. He countered it with his beam, vaporizing the clone into hundreds of small droplets. He was convinced that he had destroyed it and faced Perfect Chaos.

"Can't you do any better?" he smirked at the monster.

"Look out!" Amy screamed.

The droplets gravitated together and the clone completely reformed, striking Super Sonic with a rolling spin. Before the real hedgehog could pull himself together, the clone blasted him down with a powerful jet of water. Super Sonic crashed into the sea below and sank to the depths.

"No, Sonic!" Amy shrieked and jumped up to the edge of the bridge, preparing to jump in. Just before she was about to leap off the edge, Knuckles grabbed her arm.

"Don't even think about it, Amy," Knuckles said.

"But I have to!" Amy cried. "You know that Sonic can't swim!"

"But Amy," Tails interjected, "Remember that Sonic has all seven emeralds with him. He'll do whatever it takes to defeat Chaos."

Underwater, Super Sonic had focused a shield around himself to avoid getting drenched any further. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the clone swimming right towards him!

They erupted in a fighting frenzy, kicking and punching each other while dodging each other's attacks. The clone opened its mouth and expelled a miniature version of Perfect Chaos' beam. Super Sonic fired his beam, and it cut right through the clone's beam before it was vaporized. Before Super Sonic had any time to rest, Perfect Chaos plunged his head under the water and opened his massive jaws, ready to swallow the golden hedgehog whole. Super Sonic quickly dodged the monster's attack and swam up towards the surface.

"He's okay!" Tails and Amy exclaimed.

Unfortunately, their excitement was short-lived. As soon as Super Sonic reappeared, he was smacked by Perfect Chaos' tentacle, and the hedgehog smashed through another skyscraper. Before he even made it out the other side, however, Perfect Chaos summoned a lightning bolt which crackled from the black sky and crashed into the building. The building started to crumble while Super Sonic was still inside, burying him alive, and the whole city was crying out for him.

Perfect Chaos silenced everyone with a deafening roar of triumph. The storm was now even more fierce and the monster had a dark, gloomy aura surrounding him. Everyone's hearts slowly started to sink as the seconds passed by with no sign of Super Sonic. Everyone began to worry that their hero was dead.

Suddenly, the rubble stirred and Super Sonic rose out, which started a chorus of cheers throughout the whole city. However, he was bruised, scratched, and weakened, and he began to show a slight fear that he would lose this battle. The huffing and puffing he was doing didn't make the situation any better.

"I'm not out yet," he panted.

Perfect Chaos grew furious upon seeing his foe reemerge alive, and he let out a bloodcurdling scream as thunder boomed throughout the sky. With a quick swish of a tentacle, Perfect Chaos summoned a giant tornado made of water that quickly made its way towards Super Sonic! The hedgehog was starting to charge up his Light Speed Attack, but he was too weak to execute his move. The tornado swept Super Sonic up into the air, creating a massive, golden spiraling beam as the hedgehog helplessly spun around inside the powerful twister, rising higher and higher. He was then flung out of the tornado straight toward Perfect Chaos' jaws. A bright light began to form inside, but it was orange this time. Super Sonic was prepared to fire his beam, but he wasn't prepared for the beam that Perfect Chaos was about to fire. Super Sonic fired his golden beam, but it was overpowered by the stronger force.

"No way!" Super Sonic gasped.

The beam traveled very fast and Super Sonic was too weak and tired to completely avoid it. The beam brushed past him, but it had enough force to knock the hedgehog down to the bridge where his friends were.

"Look out!" Knuckles cried as everyone quickly jumped out of the impact zone. Super Sonic crashed into the pavement with a heavy thud, and he lay there in a near-unconscious state. Amy was the first to sprint to his side.

"Wake up, Sonic!" she cried, gently shaking him by the shoulders.

Tails tried to wake him as well, but like Amy, he didn't have any success. The others stood there as still as rocks, but the looks on their faces showed that were just as upset as Tails and Amy.

Deep in Super Sonic's consciousness, all he could make out was blackness and the distant voices of his friends.

"Tails? Amy? Is that you guys that I'm hearing? What on earth is going on here? Am I out cold? Great. Come on, Sonic, wake up! This is no time to be snoozing!"

The whole city watched with heavy hearts. Over at Amy's apartment building, a group of young children were fearing the worst.

"Mom, is Sonic going to be okay?" a young boy asked.

"He has to be!" a small girl replied.

"Sonic is supposed to be the hero who saves everyone!" another little boy said. "But he can't do it without us. Come on, everyone, start cheering for him!"

The children began to call out Sonic's name with every ounce of positive emotion. It took a bit of convincing to get the adults to follow suit, but before long, the entire city was shouting for him again. All of Super Sonic's friends observed the chorus of everyone's cheers and it seemed to have a positive effect on him. His body started to glow in Amy's arms. Amy held him close and whispered something in his ear, something that she has never, ever said out loud before. A glistening tear then dropped from her eye and fell onto Super Sonic's cheek.

"Is it just me, or did Amy really say what she said?"

At once, Super Sonic's body was aglow with a shining golden light. Amy and the others began to rejoice at Super Sonic's revival, but they were silenced by Perfect Chaos' angry roaring. The orange light began to form in his mouth and everyone feared for their own lives. One millisecond before the beam was fired, a golden curtain of light sprang up between them, completely blocking the death ray. The seven chaos emeralds came together just as Super Sonic's eyes opened up, and he was more powerful than ever before. His golden aura was replaced by a blazing blue one. Perfect Chaos' green reptilian eyes began to show a considerable amount of fear in them as the god-like hedgehog rose back up into the sky.

"I knew our True Blue would make a comeback," Knuckles laughed and punched his fist into the air before turning to Amy. "What exactly did you say to him?"

"I will never tell anyone," Amy said, wiping the tears off of her face. "I'm just glad that he's okay."

"Sonic seems to have the upper hand now," Tails smiled. "Chaos doesn't stand a chance now!"

"I hope so," Tikal prayed.

Perfect Chaos was growing desperate, seeing the light radiating from his powerful foe. He summoned seven orbs of water and transformed them all into clones of Super Sonic.

"This again," Knuckles groaned. "Now there's even more of them!"

"Just watch," Tails smiled, giving Knuckles a thumbs-up.

Super Sonic watched the clones encircle him, all raising their arms to fire their beams. Just as they started to go for the attack, Super Sonic spin-rolled at the clones, striking each of them in a golden streak at the speed of light. They were all gone in the blink of an eye. Super Sonic cocked his arm like a gun and fired his beam at Perfect Chaos, but this time it was even more powerful since it had a second beam spiraling around it. Quickly, Perfect Chaos deployed his transparent barrier, but it shattered like glass the instant the beam struck it. Super Sonic then proceeded to power up his Light Speed Attack. He tore his way through the sky, producing a scream-like sound as he rocketed towards his watery foe. At light-speed, he flew all over Perfect Chaos, striking and pummeling every single part of his body. Perfect Chaos finally exploded and it looked like the battle was over, but the monster rose up out of the water at the opposite end of the city, still at full power. Super Sonic knew that this couldn't go on forever. He quickly came up with a plan and rocketed straight up into the angry thunderclouds.

"Where's he going?" Tails wondered.

"Beats me," Big said.

Perfect Chaos did not want to wait to find out and directed his attention towards the innocent citizens of Station Square. He summoned a massive tidal wave which he directed at everyone, including Tails, Knuckles, and the others. Everyone cowered and covered their heads, expecting the worst. Just as the wave was about to crash, a massive golden curtain of light came down, and the wave slammed into it as if it was a brick wall. The citizens began to cheer, but they were left dumbfounded once they witnessed Super Sonic rocketing back down from the clouds, with dozens of small lightning bolts crackling and arcing around him. Perfect Chaos recoiled with extreme fear. Since he was made entirely of water, any form of electricity was his worst enemy.

"This ends right now, big drip!" Super Sonic proclaimed as he flew at full speed, electrically charged, towards the monstrous leviathan.

Perfect Chaos was on the brink of complete desperation. He fired his orange beam at the speeding hedgehog, who cut through it as if it were butter. Super Sonic flew right inside the monster's mouth and the beast screamed in extreme pain as lightning bolts sizzled through his watery body, and it was almost too much for everybody to handle. Super Sonic then flew back out and prepared for the fatal attack. He rocketed back up into the sky and unleashed a massive wave of light. Perfect Chaos' entire form was engulfed and a monstrous explosion of light followed, illuminating the entire city with a flash as bright as the sun. Perfect Chaos was finally defeated once and for all, and the entire city erupted in deafening cheers. Super Sonic landed on a nearby bridge where his golden color dispersed and changed back to his normal shade of blue.

A splash of water landed on a lower bridge and morphed back into Chaos 0, but there was a slight difference to him. Several groups of Chao appeared in small numbers and happily skipped over to Chaos. As he looked down at his little blue friends, the watery creature's eyes were no longer filled with sadness and anger, but happiness and peace.

Tails and Knuckles were the only ones that were able to make it up to Sonic's bridge. The trio watched Chaos from above, surprised by how things have changed for the better.

"I guess you never really intended to destroy Chaos, after all," Knuckles said. "Things turned out good for both us and him."

"You're right," Tails agreed. "Sonic must have expelled Chaos of all his negativity, so he's nice again."

Tikal then floated down to the bridge where Chaos 0 stood, in the form of the shimmering red orb, before transforming back to her physical form.

"These are the Chao you have always protected," Tikal told Chaos 0. "They stayed alive for several generations and now live peacefully with humans. You have fulfilled your duty as their guardian."

For the first time in over four millennia, Chaos 0's heart was finally at peace. He looked at Tikal, and he was very happy to see her again. His eyes were glowing with shimmering warmth.

Tikal then turned to where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood and looked up at them with her hands folded.

"Thank you so much for everything you have done," she gratefully said. "The fighting's now over, harmony is restored, and life goes on."

She then turned back towards Chaos 0 and opened her arms.

"It's time to go," she said.

Chaos 0 and Tikal began to float off the ground towards a new destiny. They ascended higher and higher into the sky before they vanished in a heavenly spectacle of sparkling light.

The storm was finally over, and golden rays of sunlight began to shine through the clouds as they dispersed. Before long, the city was bathed in sunlight, but it didn't change the fact that the city was utterly and completely destroyed.

Sonic then spotted Eggman zooming off into the sky in his Eggmobile. They knew that the battle between them wasn't over and it would resume in the future.

Everyone was left to reflect on the events of the past few days, except for Sonic, who had already jumped off of the bridge and sped towards the edge of the city, itching to start a brand new journey.

"Later, everyone!" Sonic waved.

Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, Cream, and the rest of the city said their goodbyes and waved at the blue hero that saved all of their lives. Sonic ran down the giant suspension bridge with the fresh wind blowing through his quills and rushing past his face. Even as Sonic vanished out of sight, he could still hear the whole city cheering his name as he raced onward to his next exciting adventure.


End file.
